Hard-marking Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie was unhappy with his team's performance despite a drought-breaking 31-10 Super 14 rugby victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

The Reds overcame a first half deficit and a Quade Cooper brain fade to notch their first hat-trick of Super 14 wins in six years, the victory also ending a four-year drought in South Africa.

It was the Reds' fourth win of the campaign, the first time since 2006 that they have recorded more than three Super victories in a season.

Sparked by a man-of-the-match performance from skipper and halfback Will Genia, Queensland scored the last 23 points to secure their first win in Bloemfontein.

The Reds scored three tries to one in wet conditions and prevailed despite losing five-eighth Cooper to the sin bin in the first half.

The Wallabies back was banished by referee Vinny Munro for tripping a Cheetahs player who attempted to take a quick restart from the home team's 22.

Criticised in the past for some scatty decision making on the field, Cooper has shown impressive maturity this season, but McKenzie said he wasn't impressed with his playmakers' errors in Bloemfontein.

"I'm certainly hoping it's an aberration, because it wasn't his finest hour and it certainly didn't help the team," McKenzie told AAP.

Queensland were outscored 7-3 while Cooper was off and fell behind 10-8.

A 13-point burst in seven minutes either side of the break proved decisive.

McKenzie was pleased with some strong defence as Queensland soaked up plenty of pressure, before a late flurry of ten points in the last six minutes added a slightly flattering tinge to the scoreline.

While Queensland were well worth their win, it's a measure of the rise in standards under McKenzie that he wasn't satisfied by the Reds' performance.

"We did everything we could to try and keep them in the game, we dropped the ball, gave away penalties, yellow cards and whatever," McKenzie said.

"In the end, the scoreline was probably impressive for a team like us that hasn't won in South Africa for four years, but the reality is we're not really happy with the way we went about it.

"I guess if there's a positive sign, you could say if you can play badly and still win that's not such a bad thing."

McKenzie was concerned with the amount of scrum penalties his team conceded, while a corked thigh to prop Laurie Weekes was his only injury worry looking ahead to next week's game with the Sharks.

Queensland scored the first try of the game in the 12th minute, when Genia dummied his way over after some impressive multi-phase play.

The Cheetahs hit the front after No.8 Ashley Johnson peeled off the back of a scrum and strolled through a huge gap left by Cooper.

He partially atoned for that error by kicking a penalty from near halfway just before the break, which gave the visitors a 11-10 halftime lead.

He raised the flags with another three-pointer early the second half and added a conversion six minutes after the interval when fullback Peter Hynes dummied his way over the Lions line.

Queensland sealed their win with a penalty to Cooper, who also converted a 79th minute try to centre Digby Ioane.

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