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The ARU released Ewen McKenzie’s Wallaby selection to play the Springboks at Brisbane on Saturday at 8.55am on Wednesday.
The normal announcement time is around mid-day or later on Thursday.
The title of the ARU’s release gives the clue to its early announcement: “Quade Cooper Announced At Flyhalf For Wallabies Clash Against South Africa”.
The appointment of McKenzie as the new Wallaby coach came before the Sydney Test against the All Blacks to bolster ticket sales and the bruised/smashed confidence of Wallaby supporters.
Cooper’s promotion as flyhalf to the starting line-up on the Wallabies is, similarly, part of a marketing promotion to increase ticket sales for Saturday night, and to provide some comfort to supporters who haven’t been overly enthusiastic about McKenzie’s start to his stint as the coach of the Wallabies.
The early part of the ARU’s media release was a sort of pep talk for Cooper.
He and Wallaby supporters were told that in partnership with Will Genia the pair of them at Brisbane ‘have achieved tremendous results’ for the Wallabies and the Queensland Reds.
There is the ‘decisive’ Tri Nations-winning victory over the All Blacks in 2011 and the Reds ‘maiden Super Rugby title’ at Suncorp Stadium.
Cooper, we are also reminded, has a ‘commanding record’ against the Springboks, having won seven of his nine total matches, including the past five.
McKenzie, too, is quoted as saying that ”we have specific thoughts about how we want to play this game and feel Quade is best suited to carrying that out.”
This suggests to me, initially at least, the helter-skelter game that the Reds played against the Lions.
The point here is that after about 20 minutes or so of the Reds playing the most brilliant expansive rugby, the Reds hadn’t scored a try.
They went on to lose to a Lions XV that was beaten later on in the tour by the orthodox, restrictive play of the Brumbies.
Part of the problem was that the Lions worked out that Cooper was not going to run and challenge the drift defence by making the trade mark break-outs that marked his play before his serious leg injury at the end of 2011.
The Lions put all sorts of pressure on the runners Cooper was setting up. The All Blacks did the same when Cooper came on in both Tests as a reserve who was supposed to, but did not, make an impact.
This lack of impact in terms of setting up tries was evident, too, during the Reds Super Rugby campaign when the side had a low rate of scoring tries, even though Cooper was on the field for virtually every minute of the campaign.
So, there are two things that Cooper has to do to ensure that he sparks what has been a lethargic Wallaby attack.
First: he has to play much flatter than he has this season for the Reds and the Wallabies. By standing flat, he engages the defensive line, even if he doesn’t actually try for a break.
When he is deep, like a quarter back in the pocket, the defence has plenty of time to read the plays that he is setting up.
Even if a break is made, the defence has time to make the covering tackles.
Second: he has to run more often. He should watch videos of Daniel Carter. Several times in a match, Carter will just tuck the ball under his arm and run hard at the defensive line.
The object of the play is not necessarily to make a break. The intention is to engage the defence, put it in its its mind, that the ball is going to be just shovelled along the line.
From broken play, especially, I’d like Cooper to have a go. I still remember a sensational break-out he made against a Springboks side from inside his own 22. This is the sort of running we want from him.
That break-out, like most of his fabulous plays on the video highlights, were before his leg injury. It seems to me that he has lost a bit of pace and, perhaps, the appetite to go for a break that might see him clattered.
This is why Saturday night is his moment of truth.
Does he still have his mojo? Or is gone and dusted with the inevitable invasions launched by age, hard knocks and an insidious but hidden lack of confidence?
One thing Cooper will have in his favour is that the Springbok pack is monstrous but lacks a flier.
Why Heinrich Brussow isn’t a starter is beyond my comprehension. When you have a pack like the Springboks you can more than carry a wing/forward to harass the opposition backs and steal turnovers.
And there are 180 or so tackles, rucks and mauls where Brussow is a ‘fetcher’ of extraordinary ability, a freakish player who also has a strong running game.
Michael Hooper should/must have a field day with the rucks as a fetcher as David Pocock did when Brussow was injured early on in the quarter-final of Rugby World Cup 2011.
McKenzie has bowed to pressure (I reckon) and is going to play Folau at fullback.
Hopefully, he has given Folau some clarity in what he has to do. Inside the Wallaby 22, just boot the ball out.
Outside the 22, run it! and look to linking up with wingers James O’Connor and Nick Cummins, a well-deserved selection for a player who gives 110 percent in all his play.
I am surprised that Rob Simmons has been retained in the front five.
Someone wasn’t pushing in the scrums and judging by his lazy play around the field, jogging slowly into position, my guess is that the non-pusher was Simmons.
Sekope Kefu’s selection as a prop gives, or should give, the Wallabies another big runner as he joins James Slipper and James Horwill in taking the ball up in bullocking charges (it is to be hoped).
It is often forgotten that while Robbie Deans was singularly unsuccessful as a coach against the All Blacks, he was singularly successful as a coach against the Springboks.
The two teams play for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate. The Wallabies have held the trophy for three straight years.
A win at Suncorp Stadium will make it four-in-a-row. A win will also help the Wallabies to regain some confidence after a couple of shattering defeats at Sydney to the British and Irish Lions and the All Blacks.
In this sense, the Test is a moment of truth for Quade Cooper and for the Wallabies, the players and the coaching staff.