Queensland is poised to adopt the role of spoiler for the remainder of the Super 14 Rugby competition, but will have to do it without their chief mischief maker Chris Latham.

The Wallabies fullback suffered a grade two medial ligament knee injury in the 29-14 loss to the previously winless Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Queensland coach Phil Mooney said Latham pulled up sore Sunday morning and the team physiotherapist thought the brilliant back would be sidelined for probably six weeks.

"If it is the latter, the physio thinks the anterior cruciate ligament is in tact, but it's just a precaution when Chris comes home, he will have a scan as it is the same knee that he had reconstructed (last year)," Mooney said.

Compounding Queensland's woes, captain and halfback Sam Cordingley re-injured his calf and left the field just moments after Latham.

Mooney said Cordingley could be sidelined for three weeks which would mean him missing just one game because of their bye next week.

But he refused to use the injuries to two of his key backs as an excuse for the disappointing loss to the Cheetahs.

"It was disappointing, but I don't think it was the reason for the defeat, we were out-muscled at the breakdown," Mooney said.

"As a consequence, the ball we got was slow ball, so we weren't able to get any fast ball which meant we couldn't play on the front foot."

The defeat, Queensland's fifth in eight matches, kept them in 10th place, nine points outside the top four.

"I think it is important that we finish the season with our remaining five games pretty well," Mooney said.

"The semi-finals are probably out of the question, so we need to play well now and be a bit of a spoiler for the teams that are in contention and there's certainly a lot at stake.

"We've got two Australian teams to play and we've got three very good New Zealand teams to play, so we certainly won't be dropping any intensity."

The Reds faced a tough run home following their bye week.

Queensland play the Force (fifth) and Chiefs (fourth) away and finish off with home fixtures against the Blues (third), Crusaders (first) and Waratahs (sixth).

The Cheetahs, who had managed six bonus points in their seven previous games, scored four tries to two.

Cordingley said the Reds were "out-enthused" and were very poor at the breakdown.

Queensland created little through the first 50 minutes despite a decent share of possession, but slashed a 24-0 deficit to 10 points late in the game after a brace of tries to replacement back Brando Va'aulu.

Queensland were already down 17-0 at the time of the injuries after tries to Cheetahs captain and lock Ross Duncan and Bosman, converted by five-eighth Jacques-Louis Potgieter, who also kicked a drop goal.

The deficit ballooned to 24-0 after a barnstorming Cheetahs back rower Duanne Vermeulen scored the home team's third try in the 44th minute.

Winger Clinton Schifcofske, who moved to fullback when Latham went off, converted both tries as Queensland fought back to 14-24 in the final quarter hour.

With Va'aulu and Cordingley's replacement Ben Lucas prominent in their revival, the Reds started to stitch some multi-phase moves together.

However, it was the Cheetahs who scored at a try at the death to secure a bonus point.

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