RWC: Wallabies - United States (23-09-2011, 20:30)

[Sam91]

I don't even wish serious bodily harm on Quade Cooper.

I may joke that I do from time to time, but if it were to actually happen I would be just as horrified.

I'd imagine you're a rare breed as an in zid supporter

 

[shtove]

Against Italy he threw some great passes to set up 3 of the tries.
Ireland he was not good.
Today he was shredding, every time he took it to the line he either made it over, offloaded or put someone through a gap.

Not sure what people expect from in a world cup. He does play better in super15, simply because it is a different game.

Quade generally gets better as the tournament goes on, so i guess we should keep an eye on him!

Cooper threw some brilliant skip passes. Excellent playmaker, but he needs space with deep runners.

The Aussie birds were fitter than the West Coast Girls.

 

[Tricia McMillan]

I'd imagine you're a rare breed as an in zid supporter

Being female puts me in the minority in the first place.

 

[Sam91]

Cooper threw some brilliant skip passes. Excellent playmaker, but he needs space with deep runners.

The Aussie birds were fitter than the West Coast Girls.

I think cooper would be a pretty awesome fullback to be honest, barnes at 10, kurtley at 12, quade at the back getting to think about his defence and being deadly in counter-attack.

Don't know what you're talking about with the girls either, maori girlz are hot az

 

[UilamOsa]

I'd imagine you're a rare breed as an in zid supporter

I don't wish bodily harm on him either. I want him to be uncovered for the Fraud he is and then go and work on weaknesses and be the most dangerous attacking first five the world's ever seen. But he won't coz he & Robbie can hide from these weaknesses and get away with it.

He's overplayed his hand this game and the way he's going - unless he gets injured - he's going to play himself out of the RWC team.

Aussie Forwards are paperweights bar Sharpe/Pocock. They are capable of one big half for one big match with Pocock (ala Brisbane) and they're going to need more than that to get to the finals.

I think cooper would be a pretty awesome fullback to be honest, barnes at 10, kurtley at 12, quade at the back getting to think about his defence and being deadly in counter-attack.

There's an article by an Australian reporter who pretty much listed the reasons why he should just front up at 10 defensively and offensively. The main reason he should stay out of Fullback is that he limits - arguably - the best no.15 in the trinations. Kurtley Beale.
All the gold stuff that Beale has produced over the last couple of years has been at Fullback. In the Ireland game, Cooper was just getting in the way at times. Beale's been tried in the midfield and hasn't really worked out.

But hey, with all the injuries - they made need to have him there.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

i would love to see 10. barnes 11. ioane, 12. cooper, 13. AAC, 14. o'connor and 15. beale

AAC must play outside centre, mortlock was dangerous in that position as he almost always broke the line, and AAC is the same. however we miss that badly when faingaa plays there.
the larkham, giteau 10/12 combo worked well and there's no reason why barnes and cooper can't be the same

 

[nickdnz]

i would love to see 10. barnes 11. ioane, 12. cooper, 13. AAC, 14. o'connor and 15. beale

AAC must play outside centre, mortlock was dangerous in that position as he almost always broke the line, and AAC is the same. however we miss that badly when faingaa plays there.
the larkham, giteau 10/12 combo worked well and there's no reason why barnes and cooper can't be the same

Good idea, I'd love to see Cooper at 12. Ideally just lying down with his face in the mud and Nonu's footprints all over.

 

[JW.]

Good idea, I'd love to see Cooper at 12. Ideally just lying down with his face in the mud and Nonu's footprints all over.

Calm down, Fourie gets the first go!

 

[InsaneAsylum]

haha yeah i love it how everyone talks about taking cooper out, but no one has the balls to actually do it. he must be a slippery little bugger

 

[nickdnz]

haha yeah i love it how everyone talks about taking cooper out, but no one has the balls to actually do it. he must be a slippery little bugger

Or it's because he never takes the ball to contact long enough for there to be a ruck, and hangs out at fullback when there's physicality to be done on D. The footprints on Cooper I didn't mean that he was getting rucked, I mean that if he is forced to defend at inside centre, he would get hugely shown up on defence by very good line breakers. It's the reason he plays at fullback on defense, because he's not a good tackler and is often a lazy defender. I can recall two games in which he just let the player score in stead of attempting a tackle. One against Nonu in which he just put his arms down by his side and pretended to be a tree, and the second was when Daniel Carter scored under the posts in Reds v Crusaders, with Cooper not even attempting to stop him from crossing the line or running it under the posts.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

fair enough. he did make a few tackles against the US but I can't argue with your point as I saw the same thing. i did think you were insinuating that nonu would literally stand on him though.
selectors can't be that stupid though, to play at the highest level in any sport you have to be the compelte package and for cooper to be such an inept defender makes me wonder how he reached the top level. i see it in cricket every now and then as that's the sport i am involved in at club level... bloke comes to training and bowls 130km/h and you think "why isn't this guy playing for Australia?", then you realise he can't hit the same spot on the deck twice. i'm sure you guys see it in club rugby all the time.

 

[nickdnz]

fair enough. he did make a few tackles against the US but I can't argue with your point as I saw the same thing. i did think you were insinuating that nonu would literally stand on him though.
selectors can't be that stupid though, to play at the highest level in any sport you have to be the compelte package and for cooper to be such an inept defender makes me wonder how he reached the top level. i see it in cricket every now and then as that's the sport i am involved in at club level... bloke comes to training and bowls 130km/h and you think "why isn't this guy playing for Australia?", then you realise he can't hit the same spot on the deck twice. i'm sure you guys see it in club rugby all the time.

Yeah, I like the analogy. In New Zealand I've found that much like Cooper, you get the odd centre you play with or against, even at age grade level, and you see players who can amaze you, and yet you realize why they're not selected for higher teams because of one weakness in their game that stands out. I play with a guy in colts grade, and I wouldn't be suprised if he is the quickest player in Wellington club rugby. Just burns players on the outside and it's just amazing to watch. He is an age grade New Zealand rower and he runs the 100m in just over 11 seconds. He's 95kgs and around 6'4''. Problem is that his handling isn't exceptional and he can be quite lazy off the ball. Still a fantastic player to have on the team, but you know that he's got a way off to play top level rugby.

I feel that is the case with Quade Cooper, but in reality his from on attack in magnificant, especially when players weren't used to him. He has an amazing step and no-look passes, and I guess if you can hide his frailties in defense by moving him to sweeper, Deans must feels he's worth it in attack.

 

[JW.]

Palu out of the RWC, have to feel for the guy. Worked his ass of to get here in time and then gets injured again.