All Blacks view Quade as cheap-shot artist

Nice way to put it simply, there are a bunch of idiots here that are taking something that they have no control over personally, GROW UP!!! 10.4 DANGEROUS PLAY AND MISCONDUCT (a) Punching or striking. A player must not strike an opponent with the fist or arm, including the elbow, shoulder, head or knee(s). Sanction: Penalty kick (l) Retaliation. A player must not retaliate. Even if an opponent is infringing the Laws, a player must not do anything that is dangerous to the opponent. Sanction: Penalty kick (m) Acts contrary to good sportsmanship. A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship in the playing enclosure. Sanction: Penalty kick (s) All players must respect the authority of the referee. They must not dispute the referee’s decisions. They must stop playing at once when the referee blows the whistle except at a kick-off or at a penalty kick following admonishment, temporary suspension, or send-off. Sanction: Penalty kick The above law states that a player may not strike another with his knee, simple. There is a condition, as in almost all contact sports, which gives exception to the rule if it was accidental or deemed intentional. I have seen the footage and when someone looks under their body whilst getting up off the ground and see another player there, they know not to bring the knee through the opposition players head. QC is an idiot for what he did, dirty (in this instance yes), stupid (very much so), a good player (yes), a great player (to be seen) and an abassador for Rugby Union (definitely not at this time). RM is a great player and captain (pladits and records speak for themselves) and as far as any realistic rugby player, official, fan would say is a great ambassador for the game. I do not believe that Macaw has reached the same echilons of Nick Farr Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick, Gavin hastings, Keith Wood but he is not far off. Cooper has a long long way to go before he is even thought of being in that league, if he ever makes it!!! I lived in Oz for a lot of years, played and spectated there returned to Scotland where I played, coached and spectated as much as possible. I have no perception of being an expert but the laws (see above), really are clear cut in this instance!!! Good luck to all teams in the RWC, and I will be biased I hope Scotland make it past the QF this time!

I guess I was really talking about the way Henry sees it. The question I posed was whether he thought the Wallabies played great (which I happen to think) or he thought the ABs played rubbish. The former is gracious the latter I regard as ungracious. In the same way we could argue that the ABs came back into the game because the Wallabies played crap. That simply wasn't the case. The tactics changed and the ABs had the ascendancy because they played damned well. But then I am glass half full kind of a guy and I like to think that the quality of the game was high rather than the result of two teams playing like crap for a half each. If ytou think that is a simplistic approach well in the end I guess I am a simple guy and happy to be so.

:)

Mate his love taps are nothing, he hasn't gouged some eyes, bitten anyone, coat hangered anyone so the rubbish you talk about is nothing more than what Williams, Cowan, Mcaw ,Pocock, Alexander all do. Just because Quade isn't the sharpest tool and doesn't hide his niggle doesn't mean the fore mentioned don't do it but are smart enough to cover it as a lazy fall, slight shift of the leg and so on. The way you talk about Cooper has him in the class of Troy Flavell or Richard Loe, perhaps two of the worst rugby thugs ever or if we really want to go further have a look at thugs, Mealamu's head butt on a prone player or how about Mealamu (again!) with a cameo from ? (forgotten) and the O'Driscoll spear tackle. Real injury caused with O'Driscoll yet as far as some Kiwis are concerned this stuff never happened? When Cooper actually draws some blood or breaks someone bones or dislocates a shoulder then lump him in with some great AB thugs, not before hand.

I know you are, but what am I?

It's not a joke Warren. That incident, along with the rubbish he carries on with out on the field says a lot about his character. In my view he is a cheap shot artist and I wonder what Richie must be thinking about a coach who he had a fairly close relationship with allowing the little sod to keep on doing it. I hope we meet again in the final.

Jerry, Rest assured that nothing you have written is an inconvenience to me - have no fear on that score! You can play silly word games till the cows come home (yes, 'comparison' can have several different shades of meaning if you want to get nit-picky to the nth degree) but it doesn't change the nature of the argument. Otherwise, your last post doesn't really seem to say anything so I can't respond any further. Have a nice day :)

Ahh yes that very old joke; Q How many Kiwis does it take to watch as laptop? Ans; See Rangi

" I am not making a comparison at all " Hey Mike - I know it's awfully inconvenient, but when you type something on a message board it stays there for all to see. "what he did was no different to what McCaw and other ABs have done over the years" is comparing Cooper's conduct to previous conduct by McCaw & other AB's. Another comparison "his behaviour is no different to what the ABs have been doing for years" Just as if I were to say "Mike, you argue like a 5 year old" it would also be a comparison.

Don't worry Richie there are four million of us watching your laptop !

...the limited window having been negotiated by the Lions management, if I recall correctly. From memory the SANZAR standard gave 24 hours for citings to occur but the Lions wanted 12 hours to cite given they would be playing midweek matches and needed to know who would be available. The additional evidence didn't come forward until after the 12-hour window closed. Personally I think that it was an abysmal f*ck up on all parts and badly tarnished NZ's reputation, and Tana Umaga's especially - don't forget prior to this he had the reputation of a hard but fair player, having received the Pierre de Couberdin medal for stopping to help an unconscious Welsh player whilst play continued in a Wales / NZ test. Now his legacy is 'the guy that broke O'Driscoll's shoulder'. I don't think he and Mealamu went out with the specific intent of injuring O'Driscoll - it's hard to see how that would've benefited them at all, as it was pure chance that they didn't get caught by the ref or touchies and didn't get cited by the commissioner. Instead I think the intent was to very aggressively and physically clean out O'Driscoll and establish dominance...almost sounds like the script for the first 20s of the last 2 Bledisloes, huh. In any case they were totally negligent and it is 100% their fault. The judiciary outcome absolutely sucked, it made the whole situation farcical and gave Alistair Campbell the ammunition to make the tour about the All Blacks being out to get their opponents rather than an abysmally-prepared Lions outfit with huge personality conflicts getting creamed by everyone. It also took away from the NZ Maori victory over the Lions, a phenomenal effort from the side. The vast, vast majority of Kiwis would have been fine with bans for Umaga and Mealamu, probably for the entire tour, and we still view it as a really embarrassing event.

PeterK, In fairness Richie McCaw is our John Eales, there is a reason we thing he's the greatest thing since sliced bread (sliced bread is a relatively new invention, it only arrived in New Zealand in 1999, one year after electricity). The niggle is absolutely fine if it's directed at him in the time-honoured fist-through-the-bottom-of-the-ruck or hard, well-placed tackle, but it comes across as underhanded when Cooper goes at him off the ball in such a clumsy way. As you've noted the Judiciary has spoken and god knows we've had enough rub of the green from them so case closed until the next time when we do this again.

Fair point.

So in other words, no, you don't see the distinction, so there's no point discussing it further.

You know the only thing that annoys me about this whole process, is Quade Cooper would have been to scared to pull on this type of Rubbish against the All Blacks of old! The All Blacks have lost the mongrel that they had for years, where are the Players like, Colin Meads, Wayne Shelford, Richard Loe, none of these players would have let Cooper get away with his actions on Saturday night. If he did he certainly would be looking over his shoulder in the next test!

its about the all black reaction to QC. and i think someone has to be a genuine threat to be a thug.

i think it was horwill trying to ruin genias box kick. he seems to walk quite a distance to get his head in the right spot to stuff things up.

Good idea. To motivate them he can have them chant this motto at every training session: 'Four more years, four more years'"

George gregon should coach the all blacks to bring them the world cup

Jeremy, you have lost me in your very first sentence, since I am not making a comparison at all - rather, you are the one trying to do that. The point that I and quite a large number of others have made is this: Cooper couuld have got a suspension, but he didn't. What he did was nothing out of the ordinary in terms of All Black behaviour (nor for that matter other teams), so the recent bleating from NZ media and AB management is just so much noise, probably an attempt to indulge in some pre-tournament niggle of their own. If, as you assert, Richie McCaw has built up so much virtue then he may well achieve enlightenment and become a boddhisvata. Good for him, but it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.