In all this ridiculous argument about Cooper not getting a go, didn't he start the game against the Barbarians?
Now people have made the argument that he needs to get a chance alongside Phipps who is our best halfback at the moment, but it's hardly a compelling argument. Many of the same people are also arguing that given time, Genia will be our starting halfback again. If that's the case, it's somewhat ridiculous to claim that Cooper's chances are being ruined by having to play with Genia. If Cooper had put together a better performance in that Barbarians game, he may have got a start at the end of the tour. As it stood, he looked like he was short of a run.
As it stands he's been getting minutes from the bench in each game. Realistically, I think he created an excellent try against France but hasn't done a huge amount else.
Cooper's case for starting is more along the lines of suggesting Foley should be dropped rather than Cooper promoted. In a tour where the coach is new and trying to implement a different structure to what the team were used to previously, it's always going to be more likely that he's going to opt for stability over shaking things up each match.
In general, Australia seems to have an unholy fascination with heaping blame on the 10 every time we lose, regardless of the situation of the match. It applied when Cooper was the 10. It applied to the couple of tests Beale was 10 and is now being applied to Foley at 10. We've become better at heaping praise on the forwards when they do well, but seemingly when they don't and we lose, it's mostly the 10's fault.
