Head to Head: Cruden v Cooper
The All Blacks and the Wallabies square off in a mouth-watering World Cup semifinal this weekend, and the battle between the two mercurial flyhalves will be the centre of attention in the Eden Park pressure-cooker.
Both Quade Cooper and Aaron Cruden can be devastating when they have things their own way, but both also have the potential to put their teamates under pressure when the heat is on, which should make for an intriguing and explosive battle in their knock-out clash on Sunday.
Cooper’s attacking flair is well-known, but he has looked rattled at times this season and Wallaby fans will be hoping that he finds some confidence and is able to spark the dangerous Australian backline into action.
Cruden was not even named in the original All Blacks World Cup squad, but after Dan Carter and Colin Slade suffered tournament-ending injuries he has been the man entrusted with steering New Zealand to glory on home turf.
Cruden is probably the flyhalf in New Zealand that is most similar to Cooper in terms of playing style. Both of them enjoy attacking the gainline and creating opportunities for those outside them so it will be interesting to see how they approach this game with a place in the World Cup Final on the line.
Legendary Springbok flyhalf and points-machine Naas Botha rightly points out that the player who is given the opportunity to stamp his authority on the game by his teammates is likely to come out on top.
He told this website: “To be honest I don’t think that anyone will have the upperhand, I think it is all about what they are going to produce around the flyhalves.
“The flyhalf can only be as good as the forwards who are going to make him. Both scrumhalves are good enought to take the pressure off the flyhalves. Will Genia and Piri Weepu are good enough to take a little bit more responsibility. That is why it is a combination, the one needs to assist the other.
“But it all starts with the front eight, you can have the best flyhalf… but if he doesn’t get any ball then he is actually quite useless,” Botha explained.
Cooper has been given a hard time by the New Zealand public this year due to a number of run-ins he has had with All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw off the ball, but Botha believes that his lack of confidence which was clear to see in the quarterfinal against the Springboks last week stems from the fact that his opponents have managed to put him under pressure on the pitch.
Botha explained that it goes back to the Tri-Nations clash between the two sides in Auckland earlier this year, when Cooper was shut down by an aggressive All Blacks defensive system as his team went down 30-14.
“I think that first Tri-Nations game against New Zealand really put Cooper on the back foot. He has not been the same player since because now everyone has a good idea of how to play him,” he said.
“He normally enjoys running the show but he is not doing that at the moment. He is trying to make everbody around him play at the moment because everyone has realised that if you get in his face then it is a different ballgame. So he is sort of looking for the players around him to spark,” added Botha.
Whilst the controversial Wallabies pivot has certainly not looked like the same player that dominated the Super Rugby competition with the Reds, Botha believes that he has the ability to get back to his best on the big stage if he makes some slight adjustements to his approach.
He said: “I still believe that if he can sort the little things out then he can turn the semifinal into the Cooper show. He is a good flyhalf, I don’t care what people say but he has just had that one bad game and since then he hasn’t been the same kind of player.”
Botha has been impressed by the inexperienced Cruden, who finished the Super Rugby season strongly with the Hurricanes and took that form into the National Provincial Championship for his side Manawatu.
“Cruden is the new kid on the block, but I must say I have watched him play for Manawatu a little bit this season and before the World Cup squad was announced I thought he was in good shape.
“The running game is actually the game of the New Zealanders, and that is why I say that when I watched him play for Manawatu he wasn’t playing badly at all so maybe it is his time in the sun,” said Botha.
There have been suggestions that the All Blacks will tighten things up considerably and play “finals footy”, as Graham Henry likes to describe it, but Botha believes that might be an error, especially if it forces Cruden to play a style that he is not familiar or comfortable with.
He said: “If you have decided that Cruden is the next guy then you have included him because of his qualities. You must then allow him to go and play the way he loves playing.
“It is like taking me and putting me in a semifinal and then you tell me ‘No no you can’t kick’. I would tell you to go and find someone else to do that.
“They have picked Cruden for a reason, so you must give him the leeway to run the show. He is now the No.1 flyhalf, that is the end of it. There is no Carter, there is no Slade – there is nobody else,” Botha added.
Statistical comparison – Quade Cooper v Aaron Cruden:
Cooper (23 years old):
Total minutes played: 400
Matches played: 5
Average tackles made per match: 2.4
Average line breaks per match: 0.4
Average off-loads per match: 2
Penalty goal success rate: 67%
Conversion success rate: 40%
Tackles: 18
Missed tackles: 13
Kicks: 41
Kicking metres: 1,569
Runs: 33
Running metres: 368
Cruden (22 years old):
Total minutes played: 47
Matches played: 1
Average tackles made per match: 0
Average line breaks per match: 0
Average off-loads per match: 3
Penalty goal success rate: 0
Conversion success rate: 100%
Tackles: 0
Missed tackles: 0
Kicks: 2
Kicking metres: 83
Runs: 6
Running metres: 53
Botha’s verdict: “It is about a 50/50 if you ask me. But with the All Blacks maybe playing the better game at the moment Cruden might have a slight advantage.”
Our verdict: “Both players have the potential to make or break their country’s World Cup dream with a moment of brilliance or a brain fade under pressure, but Botha makes a good point that their ability to shine will largely be determined by the performance of the players around them. We are backing Cruden to step up playing in a backline littered with former Hurricanes teammates. Cooper could always pull a sensational trick out of the bag to win the game, but we have our doubts that he is confident enough in his abilities to do so at the moment.”
By Michael de Vries
