By Darren Walton
November 12th 2009 @ 1:59am
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Matt0931 said | November 12th 2009 @ 5:03am | Report comment
Lote Tuquri was a shocker when it came to defense and it was the obvious play for Ireland to pick him out and put him under constant pressure.
Cooper has been well known to crumble under defensive pressure and I can’t see them not targeting Cooper and Ioane. Hopefully they will hold up and take the heat but they will need to watch for those fantastic little blind flick passes he is so good at otherwise he and D’Arcy will run straight through them.
Attack wise, I think the Wallabies will do well against Ireland as long as the Wallaby pack play hard, win ball, and most importantly, stop knocking on good attacking ball.
fox said | November 12th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment
I agree Matt. Those midfield channels are going to be targeted. England were incapable of exposing them, but they didn’t have the attacking quality that Ireland do. Cooper will need to take a dose of harden-the-hell-up before he walks out there. He managed to not look too weak against England (except in the final quarter when he was mowed over in open field) but this is a very different challenge. Cooper also needs to be told to attempt to use his arms in the tackle. He is a consistent penalty in that area. The key is to retain ball and use it wisely. That channel between D’Arcy and O’Gara (if he plays?) will be the one for us to attack at the right times. I’d like to see plenty of AAC, Elsom and Palu ball carrying through that area – and some offloads that stick!
pothale said | November 12th 2009 @ 10:19am | Report comment
It won’t be Darcy – it will be Paddy Wallace at 12. He’s been in better form this season for Ulster.
The O’Gara channel weakness is well known and is regularly targeted – it isn’t always successful. Every team has tried it all year and has only worked on occasion cos a) O’Gara can actually tackle – just not consistently well, and b) Heaslip/Wallace work that space in tandem with him. But it does open up holes elsewhere.