{"id":8227,"date":"2012-02-23T02:31:32","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T00:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/rugby-no-defense-for-queensland-as-reds-go-out-to-win-it-again\/"},"modified":"2012-02-23T02:31:32","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T00:31:32","slug":"rugby-no-defense-for-queensland-as-reds-go-out-to-win-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-no-defense-for-queensland-as-reds-go-out-to-win-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-No defense for Queensland as Reds go out to win it again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Nick Mulvenney<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

SYDNEY<\/span> Feb 23 (Reuters) – The Queensland Reds are embracing
\nthe added expectation that comes with being Super Rugby
\nchampions and even without inspirational flyhalf Quade Cooper
\nremain Australia’s best hope of winning the title this year.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Cooper, who with scrumhalf Will Genia fired the Reds to a
\nsurprise first triumph in the southern hemisphere’s annual
\nprovincial championship last year, is sidelined by a knee injury
\n and will miss at least the first six matches of the season.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Ewen McKenzie is confident he has the talent in his
\nsquad to make up for Cooper’s absence but is also aware that
\nsuccess this year is going to be as hard to earn as during their
\nfairytale run to the title last season.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s good to be able to generate some expectation,” he told
\nreporters earlier this month. “Everyone keeps telling us this is
\nabout defending but we have a different mindset.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have experience from last year but that’s it. If you
\ndon’t bring it to bear you’ve got nothing. We have to go out
\nthere and win it again in different circumstances.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’re not interested in defending, we want to win it.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Reds will get an early taste of the strength of their
\nrivals in the Australian conference when they meet the New South
\nWales Waratahs in their season-opener in Sydney on Saturday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Waratahs, who reached the playoffs last year but were
\nbooed by their fans on occasion for their lack of adventure in
\nattack, have a new coach in Michael Foley and a new captain in
\nformer Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY Feb 23 (Reuters) – The Queensland Reds are embracing the added expectation that comes with being Super Rugby champions and even without inspirational flyhalf Quade Cooper remain Australia’s best hope of winning the title this year. Cooper, who with scrumhalf Will Genia fired the Reds to a surprise first triumph in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}