Does anyone agree with me that Quade Copper is a mug lair with great skills but a headless chook at heart? Take the Reds vs Hurricanes game as an example.
With less than 3 minutes on the clock and after concerted Red forward pressure on their opposites in the Cane’s half, Cooper kicked to his left wing.
He attempted to repeat the try previously scored using the same tactic on the right wing. Canes took the mark and retained posession for the rest of the game culminating in the penalty goal winning the game for them.
Rabidly idiotic play. It took the pressure right off them. Why give the Hurricanes a chance to get the ball? Why not ensure possession stays with the Reds by not kicking?
Why not play for the corners and field position? Why not keep the ball in the forwards and slow play down in their half? Why not do a myriad of things which did not give the Canes a sniff of either the ball or field position?
Either none of these sensible options occurred to what Cooper is pleased to call his mind, or he thought of them and chose the high risk option instead. Either way it was flaky.
Cooper can do some wonderful things and is a talent rarely seen. There is little argument about that. He is a game breaker. The last time we saw anything like him in Australia was when Campese was in his prime.
That’s all very well in attack, but what about defence?
Last Saturday night he did not complete one tackle that I saw. He fell off players, he used his arms, he did not use his shoulders, he did not drive with his legs, without fail he went high and of course got bounced off when he did.
He did not bring anyone down by his own tackle without someone else also tackling with him. In short, he was Campese-like in his ability to wave a player through like a traffic cop at flashing lights. No matter where the Reds tried to hide him his true lack of defensive ability was there for all to see.
But it does not end there. He kicked to his wing when deep in defence in his own in-goal some weeks ago. The game was not in the bag and yet he took this high risk option.
After scoring a try against the Bulls he carried on like a Romanian gymnast. Why? Exuberance – fair enough. But how exuberant would he feel if he mistimed the backflip and ended up with a compound fracture of both legs for his troubles.
When I was at school people like him were penalised for ungentlemanly conduct in showing disrespect for the team against whom they had just scored. They were called show-offs and played in the seconds the next week to show them the error of their ways.
When he is on song he is positively glorious. When he isn’t, God help us. At the World Cup it concerns me the risks he takes will come back to haunt us.
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- Quade Cooper, Rugby Union, Super Rugby
May 2nd 2011 @ 8:32am
ted said | May 2nd 2011 @ 8:32am | Report comment
yep somewhere in your rant you are right…..that cross kick has finally ended any slim hopes of the captaincy
May 2nd 2011 @ 8:43am
PeterK said | May 2nd 2011 @ 8:43am | Report comment
You sound like an accountant, who hates any risk. The antithesis of Cooper, no risk no gain.
If you focus too much on mistakes then players become risk averse, they play predictable, boring percentage rugby. Solid, yes. Brilliant , no.
The term winning ugly mean anything, because that is the path of risk averse boring rugby. That is IF you win, which you wont against the stronger teams.
May 2nd 2011 @ 6:06pm
jokerman said | May 2nd 2011 @ 6:06pm | Report comment
I agree with Peterk. Christian Cullan got caned for messing up a try once, when he could have passed it in an All black test. He used to always beat the man and the one time he didnt the knives came out. Cooper kicking in the coner near the end with no success? Marginal. The hurricanes still had to get 80 meters up the feild. If the hurricane had knocked it on, or didnt mark it and got penalised in the tackle, there would be a strong chance this article would have been about Cooper being composed at the ends and kicking for the coners!
May 2nd 2011 @ 6:11pm
Jerry said | May 2nd 2011 @ 6:11pm | Report comment
Funny you should mention Cullen, cause people STILL remember that he attempted a chip kick with about 20 seconds to go after Lomu had scored that ‘last minute try’ in the famous Bledisloe Cup match back in 2000. Imagine if the Wallabies had gotten a penalty….
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:02am
The Bush said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:02am | Report comment
Wally,
Wow mate, what did Cooper do to you in a past life?
Let’s start with the kick. Quade is an attacking player, and when he’s oven the ball he’ll do something with it. If the Reds wanted to hold onto the ball and wait out the clock. They should’ve done what the Blues did and keep it in the forwards. To even suggest that the loss was in anyway Coopers fault is silly. He’s a winner and at on 23 is leading a team to the finals, something a lot of experienced players with better teams have been unable to do for a decade.
As for defense, who cares. People make to much out if his poor defense. It sucks, sure, but his defense is not the reason the Reds or Wallabies will lose. They will lose for a myriad of reasons, and his tackling will be a very minor part. I wish he was more solid in his defense, but that’s just how it is.
And finally, on his celebration. He’s played in losing team since his career began, he’s young and excited, cut him some slack. I suppose Digby should be missing out for his celebration too? As a Reds season ticket holder I love it. Sure if he’d broken an ankle that would have sucked, but the worlds moved on and the sport isnt confinded to a private school “gentlemanly” setting anymore. He’s proud of how he and his team are playing and his team obviously feeds off it…
May 2nd 2011 @ 4:04pm
Wil said | May 2nd 2011 @ 4:04pm | Report comment
“As for defence, who cares”??? I would be interested in elaboration of this point Bush. I would have thought it was fairly important, but maybe that is just me.
May 3rd 2011 @ 2:27pm
Campbell Watts said | May 3rd 2011 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
“As for defense, who cares,,,,, but his defense is not the reason the Reds or Wallabies will lose”
Uh – Wrong!!! If you look at the Canes attack it was all down the wing where Cooper was defending all night. He was pathetic on defence, the Canes exploited that by running it at him (regardless of where he defended) and they scored tries from his missed tackles. One could say his defence was what lost the game for the reds.
Defence is the cornerstone of quality rugby sides! Coopers needs to be a lot better if you want to be putting him in the “world class” category.
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:05am
stillatragic said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:05am | Report comment
Totally agree. Why kick away possession with a few minutes to go? But then the Reds didn’t deserve to win, despite a better second half. They played like the Reds of 2008/9 – snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. With a few exceptions, they were lazy in defence. Kicks were not chased. Not the hunger that saw them defeat the Stormers or the Bulls, or even the Tahs. Substitutions made a huge difference, which says something about our depth. Let’s hope this was an aberration; a needed reality check. And yes, there were some curious refereeing decisions, but that hardly cost them the game.
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:28am
Geoff Brisbane said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:28am | Report comment
Cooper shouldn’t have kicked and he did, simple mistake at the wrong time of the game. I prefer JoC as 1st 5 anyway. Unlike Carter ( who I think controls a game) Cooper doesn’t have that sort of nous. Different to beat a few here and there but to actually control the game well he isn’t in that class.
I want to see how Cooper performs under pressure against the Blues and Crusaders ( and some extent the Chiefs) that will be the telling story for Cooper and the Reds as they have done well so far but still a bit in front of them yet.
My 6 finals teams are Reds, Stormers, Sharks, Blues, Crusaders and Highlanders.
May 3rd 2011 @ 4:21am
Damo said | May 3rd 2011 @ 4:21am | Report comment
Yes OJ that looks like the finalists to me too, unfortunately
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:31am
Cattledog said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:31am | Report comment
If the kick had have come off, as others have, it would have been a bonus point win, possibly undeserved, but it didn’t. What happened after the kick was the telling aspect. This and the first half will be rectified against the Rebels, I’m pretty sure. I’m certainly comfortable having Cooper as the first five as what he brings to the table certainly makes up for what he doesn’t.
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:34am
ohtani's jacket said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:34am | Report comment
Cooper has a weakness in his kicking game especially in big match situations but that’s something he can work on (in theory.) There’s a lot of focus on the RWC this year but with Cooper you have to be thinking three or four years down the line when he’s a more complete and experienced player. But this will only happen if he stays put. If he takes a big money offer with the Rebels or some other team it won’t pan out. Players changing sides is one of biggest hindering blocks in Australian rugby right now. I don’t know why O’Neill allows it to happen though I expect it has something to do with preventing guys from going offshore. The ARU really need to encourage the Reds to finish what they’ve started and that includes encouraging McKenzie to stay onboard for as long as possible.
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:37am
Geoff Brisbane said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:37am | Report comment
So OJ defensive inabilities aside and from an attcking point of view he plays really well but when you are needing someone to control the ebb and flow of the match in a tight situation would you have him or????
May 2nd 2011 @ 10:31am
ohtani's jacket said | May 2nd 2011 @ 10:31am | Report comment
I’d rather have a first five who’s a great kicker and a good attacker than a first five who’s a great attacker but a wayward kicker, but if I was going to play Cooper at first five I’d at least want a fullback with a decent punt. The Wallabies have this in Beale, but it doesn’t appear that the Reds have this option. Having said all this, there aren’t that many quality first fives in Super rugby at the moment so Cooper is extremely valuable.
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:55am
Die hard said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:55am | Report comment
You have hit this nail on its head Wally. Cooper has been consistant all through his career. Showpony all the way. And yes it is glorious to watch when he is on song but his moves are not reliable and when they are off can throw a game in an instant. We talk all the time about the difference between club and super rugby, the gap from super rugby to test rugby is just as great and I think these antics should never translate to test footy.
Campeses magic was not the same as Coopers. Mostly it can in an audacious step where there was no room or a pass to where a support player couldn’t/shouldn’t be. Not the same risk of retaliation in case of failure. Coopers audacity is flawed by comparison. Too much what if in crucial areas of the field where the first inclination should be safety. I am a Kiwi born Aussie and I celebrate his successes here and I also admire much of the maturity I see in his general kicking game punching the corners like a good Kiwi kid. But he is way too much the lair who will thoughtlessly toss away the hard graft of his teammates on a whim of a chance in a moment. Yes that is a trait we want in a first five but not like this. What Cooper does with a flashy pass Larkham did by putting his body on the line. Coopers too delicate for that. He doesnt like to take it to the line, he wants to dance through on tippie toes without too much damage and while its pretty its not reliable. If I was a forward I would always be wondering which way the game is going when I had won my ball and passed it back to him, hot attack or panic defense.
I also have to admit I will always have questions as to his character after the infamous laptop affair having been stung myself be so called thieving former friends. Unfortunately that remains in his background.
I hope his game continues to develop, Australia needs him. But I wouldn’t have him in a starting team, not ruthless enough, petulant when losing and way too risky. I’m not even sure if I would have him as a reserve, that is for a game closer not a game finisher.
May 2nd 2011 @ 5:26pm
GrecoRoman said | May 2nd 2011 @ 5:26pm | Report comment
“Campeses magic was not the same as Coopers. Mostly it can in an audacious step where there was no room or a pass to where a support player couldn’t/shouldn’t be. Not the same risk of retaliation in case of failure.”
Err, British Lions, 3rd test 1989 anyone???
May 2nd 2011 @ 9:56am
Sherry said | May 2nd 2011 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Wally, you want defence over attack? Would you want Tom Carter as a Walllaby centre? Of course not. There are smarter ways of positioning a not so hot tackler than the way devised for Cipriani. McKenzie’s idea of putting Cooper way back deep when the Reds are defending works pretty well. Cooper’s no lair – he’s just super talented and slick. Too bad you dislike him – he sure entertains the rest of us.
As for Campo I’ve seen him play at Coogee, Woollahra, Manly all over Sydney many times. Also seen him play in England in tests. And I’ve seen him bring down Jonah against the ABs with a great tackle. He may have missed some important ones but so did Horan and Matt Burke.
Something I long to see is a computer generated team that has Cooper and Campo playing together. Those two would create/score so many tries it wouldn’t matter if they missed some tackles.
May 2nd 2011 @ 10:11am
lloyd said | May 2nd 2011 @ 10:11am | Report comment
Jeez the guys only 23. Ungentlemanly conduct! Wally you live up to your name.