Rugby Union World Cup 2011

[Charmamba]

Lets be honest Cooper is a over-rated.

When Australia wanted him to step up, he FAILED.

He is a :loser:

So did Australia's pack, Australia had a different combination in the front row tonight and Cooper was starting to find his feet.. Carry on all you like about how "he should have earlier blah blah blah" but i believe with the same combination in earlier games it would have been Australia playing on Sunday.. Coaching fail not just Cooper, Team game just like league.

 

[Nashy]

Make all the excuses you like. He sucked.

 

[Charmamba]

Make all the excuses you like. He sucked.

If this was Locky having a bad game everyone would be blaming Macca for not getting him the ball fast enough or Hannant/McGuire for not making meters.

He has played a total of 3 bad games all year (The only 3 half of you have probably watched this year) If you wanna call a player over rated based on 3 bad games then every player in the NRL is over rated.

 

[Browny]

I watched him play for the reds and he went alright, same for the tri nations. The pressure of the world cup got to him and played like crap. The end

 

[Nashy]

If this was Locky having a bad game everyone would be blaming Macca for not getting him the ball fast enough or Hannant/McGuire for not making meters.

He has played a total of 3 bad games all year (The only 3 half of you have probably watched this year) If you wanna call a player over rated based on 3 bad games then every player in the NRL is over rated.

No one is questioning thebyear he's had forth reds. When it came to the world cup, he was useless.

 

[Kaz]

He has played a total of 3 bad games all year (The only 3 half of you have probably watched this year) If you wanna call a player over rated based on 3 bad games then every player in the NRL is over rated.

If it was just 3 games, it was the 3 games that really mattered.

IMO: He can't handle the pressure.

 

[Coxy]

He was rubbish in every game of the world cup.

 

[Jeba]

Big call to write him off now. He's still got a lot to learn and will obviously be a better player in 4 years time. Let's not forget Lockyer's first performance in Australian colours.

 

[Coxy]

Locky had one bad performance. He starred after that. Cooper's gone back to back to back shithouse. He's got a poor temperament and is simply never going to be a great of union and certainly would never be a great in league

 

[Charmamba]

He just had trouble with the pressure of playing with the hate campaigns NZ had going, the constant booing everytime he touched the ball, crap in the papers and getting booed on the street.

It's a one off thing that he will learn from and be better for.

 

[Kaz]

He just had trouble with the pressure of playing with the hate campaigns NZ had going, the constant booing everytime he touched the ball, crap in the papers and getting booed on the street.

It's a one off thing that he will learn from and be better for.

:haha:

Wally Lewis was booed in Origin & even when he played for Australia.

 

[Charmamba]

Interesting read from someone who understands Union and isn't out to hate on just 1 player.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/r...eddie-jones-says/story-e6frf4zl-1226173688842

 

[Charmamba]

:haha:

Wally Lewis was booed in Origin & even when he played for Australia.

And congrats to him for handling it, Sports is abit different these days and the pressure is greater than ever, have a handful of bad games and everyone wants you gone and thrown into the ocean... even dickheads who don't watch your sport.

 

[Bucking Beads]

It's pretty obvious that the fact that he comes across as a ball sack helps people make their minds up on QC. It is a lot like the Michael Clarke debut. People are harsher on someone because they just don't like who they think they are.

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah, I think that's a factor Beads but also I think a lot of us Aussies love guys who can handle pressure situations like Border and Lockyer so when a player with all the talent such as Cooper makes bad errors over and over again in high profile matches of course people are going to be highly critical.

And yeah, the Aus. forwards were s**t but some of the mistakes he was making, had nothing to do with the forwards.

In more positive news, would love to see Barnes back in a Broncos jersey, what a performance.

 

[Jeba]

:haha:

Wally Lewis was booed in Origin & even when he played for Australia.

Wally was a lot more experienced in comparison to what Cooper is now.

I am no expert on Rugby Union by any stretch of the imagination, but there is an obvious agenda here from the haters, who should know better than to write off a 23 year old at the stage of his career when he is still learning, and will always have ups and downs in his career.

 

[m1c]

This is going to be a bit of an essay.

I think most of the haters need to look past the player and focus on the tactics. Cooper is copping a lot of flack, however it's easy and popular criticism for those who don't follow the game heavily.

Robbie Deans needs to accept most of the blame for the Wallabies poor showing. He went with the perceived notion that you need to play 'tournament rugby' to win a World Cup. In hindsight it's a call he'd love again, however I can understand why he found it enticing. The last two champions (Eng & SA) have played this style - kick it away; play for field position, errors or penalties. It's bloody dull, but painfully effective if you have the cattle. Besides victory, the other commonality is that both of these teams had >85% goal kickers and, imperatively, the best forward packs. It's not a style of rugby we should have attempted.

To put it into perspective - the English and Saffer packs contained ~5 forwards that would walk into a World XV. Australia has one, and even that's debatable. It's also worth mentioning the only other player who would challenge for a spot never boarded the plane.

FTR last nights front row was the weakest we've fielded all tournament. It's a stretch to say Maafu is international standard. Just on the prop rotation - it's been a disaster. Tighthead and loosehead are specialist positions. Deans elected to play our best available tight head at loosehead and our best loosehead at tighthead (go f-ing figure). Our best prop never got on the plane, whilst our (debatable) next best was completely underdone. I digress.

My criticism of Deans is that he spent four years developing a style of Rugby suited to the cattle at his disposal. Genia, Cooper, Beale and JOC are all once in a generation players. It was no fluke we had beaten the Kiwis in two of our last three, or absolutely dismantled the Saffers at any chance over the past year. Guess who was in the 10 guernsey on all of those occasions?

Deans gave them rein and was rewarded, it's baffling why he pulled them back and reverted to a game plan that would inhibit our best players.

On Quade (again):

I touched on why he wasn't favoured by tactics in my earlier post. Another aspect worth considering is the performance of the man inside him. Genia is such an underrated player and, IMO, far more integral than Quade.

Quade is a front foot fly half. A feature of his game is that he stands quite flat in comparison to most. A dominant pack isn't requisite, however you sure as hell can't do it without quick, clean ball. Quade spends his time in the pocket, ordering Genia and the forwards around, biding his time. He waits for the moment the defence is unsettled, something his flat style allows him to take instantaneous advantage of.

On the other hand Barnes plays off the backfoot, it's characterised by how deep he stands and far more suited to the way Deans envisaged us playing. It's no different to left and right side players in the NRL. Swapping sides, or in this case - depth, can just about turn their worlds upside down.

Back to Genia - no one in world rugby can clear a ball quicker from the ruck than him. It's no different to a quick play the ball in League - the benefits are the same. However, perhaps more importantly, his mere presence creates oodles of time for Cooper. Defence will never rush up on Quade as they're terribly wary of leaving a hole for Genia to scoot through. It's akin to rushing up on Locky on the last tackle.

This World Cup we barely saw any of Genia strengths. Coaches orders saw him keep the ball in the ruck as long as possible, playing for a penalty. As a result of not having the forward fire power, he was harassed all tournament, whilst the opposition had a fair amount of success counter-rucking. With Genia rarely giving clean ball Cooper had no option but to stand deep, abandoning the flat style of play he is accustomed to.

As I have mentioned earlier, Deans had the wrong man at 10 for the style of Rugby he wanted to play. As expected, Barnes was great last night. 'Tournament rugby' suits a player off the back foot such as him.

 

[Kaz]

I am no expert on Rugby Union by any stretch of the imagination, but there is an obvious agenda here from the haters

No agenda from me.

I 'hated' him before his world cup stuff ups.

I'm not expecting him to say, he is thinking of going to League to boost his contract money.

Robbie Deans needs to accept most of the blame for the Wallabies poor showing.

Yes I blame Deans as well, he kept picking Cooper.