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- Quade Cooper might be facing the axe
Robbie Deans implores Quade Cooper to improve defence or risk being dropped
- From David Beniuk in Limerick, Ireland.
- From AAP
- November 16, 2010 7:24PM
Defensive errors... like this one, may cost Quade Cooper his Wallabies spot. Source: Adrian Dennis / AFP
Quade Cooper has been issued with a blunt warning to get his defensive act together or find himself on the Wallabies' bench.
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With Australia's opponents increasingly sending traffic Cooper's way, and the five-eighth coming up with six misses at Twickenham against England, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is losing patience with the No.10's defensive issues, which include Cooper’s attitude to the task.
"There's no doubt we can't continue on with the sort of numbers that we got out of the weekend because we won't cope with that," Deans said.
That could mean Cooper being dumped from the starting line-up despite most of Australia's flamboyant new attacking rugby revolving around the 22-year-old.
"Hopefully it won't come to that, but who knows?" Deans said.
"He offers us a lot and he's been a big point of difference for us, but you've got to look at the game in its totality."
Asked if Cooper's problems were to do with technique or mentality, Deans appeared to question the attacking ace's attitude.
"It's both but the will is a big part of it," Deans said.
"You've got to want to do it or it won't matter what background or preparation you've got.
"If there's no will it just doesn't happen."
Deans said Cooper's deficiencies were sapping the players around him and he would only consider a 'minder' for him - a forward who can cover his defensive role - as a 'last resort'.
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"The better response would be for Quade to master it himself," Deans said.
"We do as much as we can in training but the reality is it's not 'til the rubber hits the road that you really find out."
Deans and co-selectors Jim Williams and David Nucifora want to see progress from Cooper this weekend against Italy, but the coach stressed his star was not the only culprit in the 35-18 loss to England.
"A lot of the detail would be addressed with the collective mentality, to be honest," Deans said.
"We were off the pace in terms of our intensity.'' Dropping Cooper would mean shifting Matt Giteau back into five-eighth or promoting Berrick Barnes to the position.
Barnes said England's inside passing had caught the Australian defence unawares.
"They were pretty good at using those inside balls and that tested us in defence and how you want to turn up for each other on the inside," he said.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wa...-1225954604771
Has someone seen the light or has someone been readin g comments on this forum
Just as long as they don't move Gits into 5/8 it is all cool
either way, something has to be done with his defense.
i know there are a few Cooper fans here and its obvious he is a great attacking player but i think this article mirrors my thoughts around his defence pretty perfectly.. shape up or ship out...
I would qualify that by saying he is only good against teams that the Wallabies forwards have the upper-hand against. Which usually means the weaker teams but sometimes they come out with a monster performance and hand it to whoever.
Drop Cooper. Anything to improve his defence. In the mean time play him off the bench. I reckon he'd go well coming on against a tired opposition. Would play Berry Barnes out of 10 instead of Giteau though.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Cooper is definitely our future fly half and is an amazing attacker. I think we should stick with him as long as his tackling is being worked on constantly off the pitch.
But if people are really desperate to win games, i guess we could play Barnes at 10 for now for his defense. I wouldn't complain seeing as there is some case to say his defense is costing tries. But Robbie has been setting up our future over the last few seasons so i don't think he will stop now.
The major problem is that defense isn't fixed overnight, but the world cup is so close and we need to give guys like Cooper and Beale (who are key players) as much game time as possible to get them ready for the WC.
It's hard to judge exactly how bad Cooper's performance was because it certainly didn't help that the rest of the team were weak in the tackle. It's no surprise that everyone is average at the same time. This reminds me of the game in Perth against SA last year. Everyone thought the Boks would play conservatively but instead they ran the Wallabies off the park. The following week in Brisbane, Australia had their number.
Our loss to England came down to four things: low intensity from touring, surprise attack from England, poor defence from fatigue also from touring and being surprised, and poor decision making due to being under pressure due to poor defence due to a combination of surprise attack and fatigue. Take any one of those factors out (particularly the low intensity/surprise attack) and we could well have won it.
I see the value in keeping Cooper in the side and working on him in training. But I also see the value in dropping his ass and teaching him to want it rather the current message which is no matter what you do you'll still be in the side.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
look what being dropped did the sharpie....
man up quade. it doesn't hurt!
If this threat can be angled at Cooper, why can't it be angled at giteau, who hasn't been spectacular in either defense or attack?
If Cooper's dropped, we need barnes at 10, but he needs to be told to attack more, he's got that tah stink on him now and will likely kick the ball away at every opportunity.
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The English think we are soft as shite. They relish the hard stuff whilst Australia likes to pick forwards that want to poonce about in the backline and stand on the wing. aka R.Elsom. The throw it wide brigade has too much influence on our rugby culture. I'm all for attacking rugby but it needs to be on the back of getting the job done up front. Our pack was raped at the breakdown.
With our forwards going backwards and the English having time and space to organise their attack and pick their target, they were able to direct huuuge forwards at Cooper and Giteau. Quade wasn't alone in the speed bump yellow page ad. Giteau was smashed out of the way numerous times.
We can't have Giteau and Cooper together. If we picked a 12 that could muscle up and smash big runners, our backrow can cover Quade.
Quade needs a session with Axe Gilmeister. I blame the genius that picked Phil Blake as defence coach. Whoever made that decision should be sacked. Blake was a worse defender than Quade. Axe is the go to man. He is conditioning the Gold Coast minileague team. Quade loves hanging out on the coast. Axe will sort him out.
I remember in 1990 Brad Izzard making a fool of Kevin Walters in the preliminary final when the choccy soldiers destroyed Brisbane. Izzard ran at Walters all night from set piece where they could isolate him and the Panthers qualified for the Grand Final.
SOS Axe Gilmeister. Some c.u.n tea sessions with the Axe turned Kevin Walters into a fine defender and he went on to play for QLD and Australia.
Quade needs to give the Axe a call and get his technique sorted out. The wallabies need to sack Phil Blake and hire a defence coach that knows how to tackle.
The wallabies need to drop Giteau. He was useless in defence and attack. Great bench player due to experience and can cover several positions allowing us to load the bench with hulking forwards
S.O.S Axe
Controversy corner
Give Quade an axe, that will improve his defence.
Long overdue, he will be a great impact player from the bench.
I think we have all forgotten so far this year he missed a number of matches against the All Blacks who would have found him out as well, and most games he has played in the pack was fairly okay alowing Pockock to protect him.
Gits back to 10 he has not fired at 12 despite all the hype, and lets get Barnes in at 12.
Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”