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I have to agree with tic about this farcical situation.
The ARU has completely mishandled both Deans/Cooper and Beale. Beale should not even play S15 again this season let alone be under consideration for Wallabies. Deans comments about Cooper are a disgrace, and the ARU should develop some cojones and tell Deans to stop selecting favourites (and vice versa) or anti up and inform the paying public Cooper is not under consideration because of his comments last year.
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
I am peeved but so should every rugby lover in Australia. As I said earlier, Deans is approaching this series with a mindset of how not to lose rather than how to win.
That will reflect in a boring, turgid game plan that will suit the Europeans to a tee.
I don't see how the Wallabies can win under Deans and his dreadful strategies. If we are going to lose, I'd like to see us losing whilst playing an enterprising, fast and open style of rugby.
I don't get the Cooper praise. Do you all not remember the world cup? He is like his hero King Carlos. Great at times but put him under a slight amount of pressure and he falls like a house of cards. He should not play after 2011, hasn't shown anything since then that shows he has become a more solid prospect.
The Lions have selected a big physical team who will be relishing smashing Cooper off the park.
Look how great this running rugby everyone has been bleating about has worked in the past against big physical teams. (England) They smash us when we are highly favoured every time as we select powder puff players instead of tough nuggety players. Last year we beat England without Cooper, Genia or JOC. No big deal.
If Deans is blaming Cooper for Tap's poor form then deans has alot to answer when it comes to coopers.
he is the one who put McCabe inside Cooper a few weeks out from the RWC the very time that Coopers form dropped.
“Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.
The thing with Cooper is that he's inconsistant.
when he's good he's brilliant
when he's bad he's bloody terrible
If you're going into a 'do or die' series you want someone who's consistantly good (or at least a little less bi-polar)
“Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.
tic, the Force destroyed the Cooper Genia combo twice in the Super season. It was THE FORCE, they aren't world beaters, they aren't even of international standard according to anybody who has a say on anything in Australian rugby (selectors, journalists, 90% of the random blokes in the street) You cannot say that Cooper is an acceptable option at 10, certainly not when in combination with Genia when that partnership is so fragile that it can be picked apart with a little line speed and defensive pressure by a cellar dwelling provincial team with no apparent quality to it's make up. How the hell do you think some of the most agressive pigs in the world will approach them?
I am not so concerned about Quade missing the call, because his rugby is too fragile since the world cup. He's lost some of hi Mojo and 'till he gets it back he's ordinary at best. I'm more concerned about the lack of other genuine options around. I haven't seen O'Connor play 10 recently, but he has always looked a far better second fiddle to Beale than a genuine first receiver option. Beale needs to spend a year sitting in the wilderness and get his shit back together....the only other experienced option we have is Berrick, fragile and conservative, he is really a utility option to cover for injuries.
When explained like that, I think Cooper deserves a spot, but only because we have virtually no international standard 10s available.
Might be time to give Toomua or Leilei a crack!
C'mon the
tic, the Force destroyed the Cooper Genia combo twice in the Super season. It was THE FORCE, they aren't world beaters, they aren't even of international standard according to anybody who has a say on anything in Australian rugby (selectors, journalists, 90% of the random blokes in the street) You cannot say that Cooper is an acceptable option at 10, certainly not when in combination with Genia when that partnership is so fragile that it can be picked apart with a little line speed and defensive pressure by a cellar dwelling provincial team with no apparent quality to it's make up. How the hell do you think some of the most agressive pigs in the world will approach them?
I am not so concerned about Quade missing the call, because his rugby is too fragile since the world cup. He's lost some of hi Mojo and 'till he gets it back he's ordinary at best. I'm more concerned about the lack of other genuine options around. I haven't seen O'Connor play 10 recently, but he has always looked a far better second fiddle to Beale than a genuine first receiver option. Beale needs to spend a year sitting in the wilderness and get his shit back together....the only other experienced option we have is Berrick, fragile and conservative, he is really a utility option to cover for injuries.
When explained like that, I think Cooper deserves a spot, but only because we have virtually no international standard 10s available.
Might be time to give Toomua or Leilei a crack!
C'mon the
And therein lies the problem; the only Wallaby eligible 10s in Super Rugby being:
Crap: Barnes
Trouble: Cooper
Drunk: Beale
Out-of-position: O'Connor, Norton-Knight, Lucas
Untried: Lealilifano, Toomua, Foley, Holmes, Snowdon
Against the Lions I think Cooper would be a good pick, as he's different from most of the fly-halves you get in Europe, but with his fall-out with Deans I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't picked.
Lealilifano, Toomua and Foley haven't done badly against NZ and SA Super Rugby teams, which is about as good an opposition as you can face short of International rugby; they deserve their chance to be blooded and it's about which series is less important - the Lions or the Rugby Championship?
Last edited by Sheikh; 24-05-13 at 13:16.
Foley?
Haven't watched the tahs for a few weeks, but they seem to be going OK.
C'mon the
I was thinking that too.. He has the defensive strength and good offload, good running lines just his passing game wide of 12 and kicking out of hand that I haven't seen yet to convince me he's the full package...
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Force played well those nights. But if you are going to blame Cooper and Genia for those matches then you have to give them credit for beating, amongst others, the Bulls, Chiefs, Blues, Sharks, Hurricanes etc.
It's nonsense to single them out for blame based on one or two sub par performances in a long season. Thed Reds have just had an awful road trip to SA and yet Quade was trying his guts out over there - doing some great stuff on occassions.
Yes, I believe he is clearly the best 10 for the Wallabies. His winning % for the Wallabies is very high. People need to get over this RWC crap. He did not lose it for us. Our pack was utter garbage, he was playing inside a one dimensional battering ram and the game plan of our genius coach was picked to pieces by decent opponents.