Cooper vows to bounce back
Quade Cooper insisted he would be a better player for the experience of enduring a second straight World Cup horror show as Australia lost 20-6 to New Zealand in the semi-final on Sunday.
Cooper, who had one of his poorest games in a gold jersey during last weekend’s epic 11-9 quarterfinal win over holders South Africa, was unable to provide the Wallabies with any get-go from his key play-making role of fly-half.
By contrast, opposing stand-off Aaron Cruden, in only his second Test start, benefited from a more solid platform in front of him and admirably filled the boots of first-choice flyhalves Dan Carter and Colin Slade, who both suffered tournament-ending groin injuries.
“It has been a pretty surreal couple of weeks,” Cruden said ahead of next Sunday’s Final against France.
“It was great to get the late call-up and great to get called up to a World Cup semifinal. We really stepped up and had a fantastic 80 minutes.”
In a sign of things to come, home fans at Eden Park booed when Cooper, born in the New Zealand timber milling town of Tokoroa, but who moved to Australia as a 14-year-old, had his name read out when the public address announcer ran through the teams.
“I think Quade has brought a wee bit of that on himself,” All Blacks coach Graham Henry said in a reference to Cooper’s past needling of New Zealand captain Richie McCaw that riled many Kiwi rugby supporters.
“You’ve got to earn some respect and he lost some respect from previous actions. But he kept his nose clean tonight,” he noted.
Cooper said he would leave the World Cup an improved player for all the scrutiny he’d been subjected to during the tournament.
“Everyone is trying to get at me personally. I think I’m definitely going to be better off for it,” he said.
“I got used to it and I think I grew a lot of confidence out of it. I’m not in a position to point fingers about that or have a cry about it. I am who I am. I’m going to play the way that I play and whether you like it or not, that’s me.”
Cooper, and Australia, had a tough night right from the moment his opening kick-off sailed straight into touch.
Falling into his usual defensive role at fullback, Cooper then failed to gather a kick to the corner, putting the pressure immediately on his forwards.
Cruden’s sweeping pass out to Cory Jane proved just too far for the wing as the All Blacks showed their attacking intent.
In the ensuing action, Cooper’s half-tackle on Israel Dagg brought the fullback down short of the line, but Dagg’s brilliant pass found Ma’a Nonu for the only try of the match.
Cruden too showed his defensive skills in a fine double tackle with Jerome Kaino to prevent a Digby Ioane try, and again on Wallaby scrumhalf Will Genia.
The 23-year-old Cooper’s slow start continued, however, when he dropped an up-and-under.
By contrast, Cruden’s confidence kept growing and was boosted further by a perfectly-executed drop-goal.
The second half opened with Cooper more directly involved in play but such was New Zealand’s dominance it made little difference to the outcome.
When Richard Kahui bundled Cooper into touch after a long kick and chase on the final whistle, it set the seal on a miserable match for the talented playmaker.
“It was a tough night for all of the boys,” Australia’s Kiwi coach Robbie Deans said as he tried to turn the spotlight away from Cooper.
Many pundits thought the Wallabies missed a trick in omitting proven playmaker Matt Giteau from their World Cup squad.
But Deans insisted: “We don’t believe it would have made any difference to us out there.
AFP
