It’s unanimous; Quade “Trip-Hop” Cooper played a blinder in the Reds’ 28-30 loss to the Sharks in Durban last Saturday. Here are the highlights of his individual play.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A9HFPqCCwE[/youtube]
As is evident from the clips, what’s so impressive about Cooper’s attacking play is the variety that he brings. Inside balls, wide-passes, offloads, chip-kicks, cross kicks, long kicks and most impressively in this match, his running game. Quade ran 128 metres with 3 line-breaks; the most of any player in the match. Digby Ioane, who also had a great running game, came second at 127m. However, Cooper made that distance in 10 runs, vs Diggers’ 14.
Most pleasing though, is Quade’s choice of which option to take, and when. Not every pass is a 30m cut-out, and not every play is a balls out attacking opportunity. The Chiefs game was probably the best example of this new found decision making, where Cooper stayed faithful to the Reds short-side game-plan, which in the end paid dividends.
As Matt Giteau and Berrick Barnes fail to impress (and both most recently have been playing at 12) this has naturally led to an expectation of Cooper being the Wallaby 5/8 in 2010. However, this brushes over two big question marks.
First; mental focus. With a court case pending and the brainfart trip only last week – is this the temperament of the director of the Wallaby backline?
Second; defense. This season (up until round 7) Cooper is still missing roughly a third of the tackles he attempts (11/32). Compare this with Daniel Halangahu who has made more than double that number of tackles, and missed about the same number (10/61). Watching the Sharks game, it’s clear that the Reds have made the decision to take the rough with the smooth and sensibly move Cooper out of the firing line – he was only asked to make 3 tackles all game.
He also appears to be muscling up more – you can see in the clip two solid tackles including a hit on the Sharks second row. However, in a big game international setting, just how much can you hide a defensive fragility? The dying seconds vs Ireland on the end of season tour answers that question.
While only time will tell the role Quade will have to play in the Wallabies, I can absolutely guarantee that none of it will be boring.
