Forced change pits mates head to head
Wayne Smith From: The Australian February 19, 2011 12:00AM
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A LATE change at five-eighth for Western Force has set up the mouth-watering duel of two of the most exciting players in world rugby at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow as James O'Connor will mark Reds general Quade Cooper.
O'Connor was earmarked for the fullback position until marquee player, Kiwi five-eighth Willie Ripia, was ruled out with a foot injury, prompting Force coach Richard Graham to bite the bullet that was always going to provide him with a meal at some stage this season.
The prodigiously talented 20-year-old, who already has more Test caps to his credit than Super Rugby appearances, 27 to 25, has taken little time to establish himself as a world-class fullback and right winger but it was always just a matter of time before he took the step up from game-breaker to game-maker.
Admittedly, O'Connor filled in at five-eighth during Force's early-season injury crisis last year but Ripia wouldn't want to tarry too long on the sideline or he might find the youngster grows accustomed to the fit of the 10 jersey.
That he will be marking his best friend, Cooper, only adds spice to what is already a three-chilli dish. Hopefully, this time they will both keep a straight face about their head-to-head clash, which is more than either managed in the corresponding match in Brisbane last year.
Cooper broke into the clear with only O'Connor to beat, but as their courses converged, the Reds playmaker winked at his grinning mate and somehow managed to fumble the ball over the sideline.
"I'd like to think that sort of thing won't happen again," Graham said yesterday.
O'Connor and Cooper have played Twitter tennis for most of the week but the Reds will be taking technology to a new level tomorrow, filming the match and then downloading highlights or game patterns on to iPads for the players to study in real time.
Few critics have given the Force any chance of toppling the super-confident Reds in a match Queensland is dedicating to the victims and heroes of the recent floods. On perusing the Perth side named yesterday, it is difficult to understand how this contest has come to be seen as a foregone conclusion.
Ripia's injury has allowed former Test winger Cameron Shepherd, who otherwise would have been named on the bench, to start at fullback.
It's a welcome break for the gifted attacking player after his recent personal and disciplinary problems and it may well be that his inclusion provides the Force with more balance overall.
Hurricanes import David Smith, who will join Shepherd and Nick Cummins in the back three, is a Rod Davies-Lachie Turner-style speedburner, while it is hard to think of a back five with a higher workrate in any Super Rugby pack than Nathan Sharpe, Ben McCalman, David Pocock, Richard Brown and Matt Hodgson.
The Reds might fancy their chances of inflicting some damage up front in the scrum but tighthead James Slipper, for all his dramatic improvement on the end-of-season tour, has only one Super Rugby start to his credit and still is settling into his combination with Saia Faingaa and Ben Daley.
"The media and the public haven't given us any hope and we can't control what they think, but the quality is evident in our side," said Graham, who will be making his own Super Rugby coaching debut against one of the best-credentialled coaches in the competition, Ewen McKenzie.
The Reds destroyed the Force 50-10 in the corresponding Brisbane match last season but that was while the Perth side was in the grip of the injury run from hell.
Graham, however, cuts his side little slack in that regard.
"You can be outskilled but you should never be outwilled and there were moments in that match when we were under pressure and should have stood up to it but didn't," he said.
The glowing exception to that was Hodgson, who at times seemed to combat the Reds on his own. The Force has no injury excuses this time and if Hodgson's teammates can match his application tomorrow, the Reds might discover their road to the finals is not strewn with rose petals after all.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226008415777
