It's the two weeks that could make or break the Reds' 2020 season but coach Brad Thorn says Queensland are embracing the challenges of world sport's toughest road trip.
After a narrow loss to the Australian conference champions the Brumbies in Canberra in last week's season opener, the Reds hit the road for a round the world trip to South Africa and Argentina.
Results against the Lions and Jaguares will shape the Reds' season.
Head into a first home game at Suncorp Stadium in round four on the back of three consecutive losses to start the season and it will be hard to drum up enthusiasm for a clash against Japan's Sunwolves.
But pick up a win on the road and continue the entertaining style of football that was seen in patches against the Brumbies and the Reds can start to build belief in their fans that a finals campaign is more than a pipedream.
Thorn is bullish about the challenge, saying his players will not head to Ellis Park tomorrow "trembling".
"As a player, if I can get that trip done early, then good. We don't go there in fear and trembling, we see it as a good challenge," he said.
“A round the world trip, no other sport really does it, let alone a contact sport. So, if you can get a victory on this trip you can call that a success.”
Much has been made about the age of the Reds group.
Apart from Henry Speight (31), JP Smith, who turned 30 a fortnight ago, and James O'Connor, who turns 30 later this year, the vast majority of Reds players are 23 or under and are a particularly tight group.
Most have come through the schoolboy and age group levels playing together and Thorn believes a road trip this early in the season can galvanise those bonds.
Departing Australia less than 24 hours after their clash against the Brumbies last week had more to do with getting to the altitude of Johannesburg in time to prepare for their clash against the Lions than spending time together as a group.
But being in South Africa well ahead of the game had that benefit.
"You do that travel right, you grow and you get really tight as a group. If you do it wrong, it can be the other way, truly,” he said.
"But whenever we've travelled, we've usually had some reasonable results."
The players' social media feeds are full of team visits to safari parks, golf courses and Johannesburg landmarks - events Thorn hopes will help bind them even closer as a group.
"The guys in this group, because they're so tight, they get really connected in that time and I think it will be adding on from the work that's been going on (during the pre-season)," Thorn said.
"We'll be getting really close and getting around each other a lot and have some really good challenges in front of us."
The Reds had several players make their debut in Canberra last week and another pair of young guns in Sean Farrell (22) and Josh Nasser (20) are in line to play their first game from the bench against the Lions.
But the nucleus of the side, although young, now have several Super Rugby games under their belt and Thorn is seeing more mature players.
"I just think there's a lot of hunger there. I feel like there's more of an edge coming through to them," he said.
"At some stage, you've got to get used to this level of footy. But at some stage, the professional comes along and he has an edge about him - and edge where he's there to win, he switches on, he has a way about him and I feel like I'm seeing more of that just looking at the boys.
"You can see they're here for the long-term, there's a whole heap of them and they're really tight, they're really connected for the rest of their state.
"There's no fuss with the guys, they're just going their business. But we'll see where it takes us.
"You'd hope there'd be some reward for effort with that stuff but you can never be sure."
The Reds take on the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Sunday, March 9, kicking off at 12:05am AEDT and broadcast LIVE on Fox Sport and Kayo.
