Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYou can\u2019t win a Super Rugby game conceding 17-odd penalties,\u201d he said to reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week\u2019s about rectifying a few of those things, making a few tactical switches and really leaning into the prep for the Highlanders at Suncorp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attention now turns to Friday, February 27, when the Reds host the Highlanders at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love playing at Suncorp,\u201d Faessler said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got people rolling down Caxton Street and the energy is infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Reds have enjoyed recent success against New Zealand opposition under Les Kiss, Faessler insisted the focus remains internal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about Australian teams or Kiwi teams. It\u2019s about performing well – especially in front of our home fans,” he believes.<\/p>\n
The Highlanders pose a stern forward challenge, led by All Black prop Ethan de Groot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re strong at the set piece, hardworking and physical. They love their special plays and starter plays in attack, so rectifying that will be really important,” the hooker notes.<\/p>\n
The bye has also strengthened competition for selection, with several players returning to training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the strengths of our squad – the depth. The competitiveness it drives at training is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
One positive from Sydney was the Super Rugby debut of young backrower Vaiuta Latu.<\/p>\n
The Brothers product, known as \u201cVice\u201d, impressed in his first outing – something that carried extra meaning for Faessler.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s explosive, big body, really physical and abrasive,\u201d he said. \u201cI coached him in under-14s at Brothers, so it\u2019s great to see him step up. It\u2019s a win for the club and for Vice and his family,” he revealed.<\/p>\n
After a long pre-season, Faessler said the group feels energised as the campaign gathers momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a breath of fresh air getting back into playing rugby and playing for something. Every team\u2019s chasing that cup and we are as well,” he adds.<\/p>\n
Following a tough night in Sydney, the message is clear – tighten discipline and respond at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland Reds have used their bye week to address discipline after last Friday night\u2019s loss to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,215801,12061,760,85,48013],"class_list":["post-492208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-highlanders","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}