{"id":377174,"date":"2024-03-18T02:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T03:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=377174"},"modified":"2024-03-18T04:03:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T04:03:34","slug":"stunned-reds-coach-lifts-lid-on-sudden-turnaround","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=377174","title":{"rendered":"Stunned Reds coach lifts lid on sudden turnaround"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland Reds<\/a> have been Super Rugby Pacific's<\/a> surprise packet to start this season \u2013 and even head coach Les Kiss can't quite believe the success they're enjoying.<\/p>\n

The Reds were hardly a force in 2023, winning five matches in the 14-round regular season to just scrape through to the finals.<\/p>\n

Against the chart-topping Chiefs<\/a>, the Reds were downed 29-20 in Hamilton to end their season in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, with<\/strong><\/em> every match ad-free, live and and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Then-head coach Brad Thorn was let go and replaced by Kiss fresh off a stint with Premiership Rugby side London Irish.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/p>\n

His impact has been immediate, taking the team to three wins from four matches \u2013 defeating the Waratahs, Chiefs, and Rebels.<\/p>\n

The Reds' sole loss to date came against the undefeated Hurricanes, downed in a narrow 38-33 barnburner.<\/p>\n

Now they sit second on the ladder behind the Hurricanes, ahead of top Kiwi teams the Chiefs and Blues.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Flanagan floats shake-up after Dragons nightmare<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Secret 'spywork' that sunk Rabbitohs record holder<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Golf star robbed of crucial birdie for doing nothing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking after the round four clash, Kiss said the team is "getting close" to what he had presented to Queensland Reds management when he applied for the head coach job.<\/p>\n

"I didn't think it would happen this quickly in terms of their confidence in terms of how we wanted to present a game style to them and a shape to them," said Kiss on Stan Sport's coverage.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Razzle<\/p>\n

"I have to put a lot of credit to my coaches, they've aligned all the things that we talked about what we would do. The coaching methodology has been fantastic. They have great tactical acumen and they're good technically, so all those things matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's been a buy-in from everyone. We said we wanted to try and play a certain way, progressive and aggressive \u2013 and they're delivering."<\/p>\n

A commanding 53-26 win over the Rebels wasn't perfect, however.<\/p>\n

The Reds led 33-7 at the break before the Rebels mounted a comeback to draw that gap back to 38-19.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Kiss is keen to incentivise the players to have a crack.<\/p>\n

"I'd like a few less errors, I'd like better management at times, but I'd rather say 'Go for it' and let's find out rather than say 'Don't do this' and inch our way forward," he said.<\/p>\n

"I'd rather take aggressive steps forward and see how far we can go.<\/p>\n

"Despite the errors, they still find a way to fight their way back into a point," he added.<\/p>\n

"They're dogged, they're committed, and all those things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"The only thing I can say is we just gave them a little bit too much tonight early in that second half and they got their back up. We know they can be dangerous when they do."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1769511361698992336<\/a><\/p>\n

Kiss said he's been buoyed by the depth of the squad and he's not been afraid to tap into resources on the sideline.<\/p>\n

"Before I started I didn't really know how deep the squad was," Kiss explained.<\/p>\n

"I do know that there is some talent there. I also know that when I do put someone into a position they've turned up and aimed up, which has been fantastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm not just talking physically, I'm talking technical detail as well. So they're important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"For everyone at the team to recognise it's a competitive squad, it'll take all of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We're already finding that out. The good teams, you use your whole squad most seasons."\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Reds will face the basement-dwelling Force on Saturday in Perth at 7.35pm AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Queensland Reds have been Super Rugby Pacific's surprise packet to start this season \u2013 and even head coach Les Kiss can't quite believe the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":377176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=377174"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377178,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377174\/revisions\/377178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/377176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=377174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=377174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=377174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}