Quade Cooper- time to lay off the guy?

Quade Cooper came into the World Cup as a villain, a traitor to New Zealand rugby. He was born in New Zealand, but he has chosen to represent Australia, and he has arrogance and at times a complacency to his game which rubs people up the wrong way. On top of this, his cheap-shot on New Zealand’s golden boy Richie McCaw in the Tri-Nations made him a serious figure of negative attention.

But the strange thing is that it was not just New Zealanders who booed and hissed Cooper throughout the tournament. Commentators, opposing fans and even Ex-Australian Internationalists were only too keen to jump on the anti-Copper band-wagon. Cooper’s inconsistent, unpredictable play was highlighted constantly, and there weren’t many days there wasn’t a negative article on Copper during the World Cup.

OK, Cooper was playing for Australia, yet born in New Zealand, but he and his family moved when he was 13 so essentially he did not chose his destiny. Being schooled in an Australian school he played for Australia schools. He did so for two years, and became one of three young players to break the record for most Australian schoolboy caps.

After leaving school Cooper was contracted to the Reds and also represented Australia at Under-19 level. He was in the high performance program working with the ARU-funded National Talent Squad, and representing Queensland and Australian Schoolboys. Australia invested in Cooper, and for him to choose Australia at National level, if anything shows gratitude and commitment.

As far as his style of play and persona go, we need players like this in World rugby.  The guy does things no one else can do, and he is willing to try things no one else is willing to try. It might not always come off, and the repercussions can be costly, but when they do come off they are equally costly for the opposition. Quade Copper will win games single handedly, but with this it must be accepted that he will occasionally do things which may cost his team a game.

As I made out in the first sentence Cooper has been New Zealand’s biggest villain for the past month and a half, but there are other players who’s actions have been far less  patriotic and the issue hasn’t even been brought up.

Simon Danielli is an integral part of the Scotland’s squad, yet he was brought up in England and played for England schools. Shontayne Hape, a vital member of the England squad is not only from New Zealand, but has represented them at rugby league. However, perhaps the most noticeable “exchange” player is Manu Tuilagi. Arguably England’s best and most effective player, Tuilagi is from Samoa. Out of his five brothers four are Samoan internationals,  but being the youngest and having been brought up in England, Tuilagi has chosen to play for England.

For me, the Tuilagi and Cooper situations are the same, yet no one judges Tuilagi. OK the World Cup was in New Zealand, so Cooper was going to get a bit of slack, but a lot of it was unnecessary and over the top. The way I see it, Cooper made the honorable decision to play for the country which invested in him and gave him the most opportunities. The players mentioned such as Danielli and Hape, two of perhaps hundreds, made a choice which suited them best. The decisions made by Cooper, and the decisions made by these players to me are completely different and in my opinion the wrong player is taking the most stick.

There have been rumors that what has gone on has been a huge mental strain on Cooper, but you would not have thought so by the way he carried himself during the competition. He has not retaliated or bad mouthed anyone and has carried himself in a very impressive way.  There has been long standing speculation of Cooper moving to rugby league, and  he is a player who would have a huge impact in the other code. If he is struggling mentally, this may be something he is considering, and perhaps this is understandable.

Cooper has a torn cruciate to get fixed up, and the disappointment of not reaching a World Cup final to get over, but let’s hope these are the only things he is worrying about, as rugby union cannot afford  to lose a player of such caliber to the other code. Let’s put it this way, if I was to promote the sport of rugby union to someone who had never seen is before, the first thing I’d do would be to stick on a highlight reel of some of Quade Cooper’s magic.

Did Scotland Underachieve at the World Cup?

In many people’s eyes Scotland will be seen to have failed in this year's World Cup. For the first time Scotland failed to reach the quarterfinals as they were beaten by Argentina. Performances against Romania and Georgia were fairly uninspiring, and a chance to beat England and turn around the quarterfinal situation went begging. This may seem like underachieving, but is underachievement really a fair assessment?

If we look back to the previous two World Cups, yes Scotland reached the quarterfinals, but in each occasion one could say there has been an been an element of luck involved. In 2003 a late, long-distance penalty from Chris Paterson snatched the lead from Fiji allowing Scotland to progress. Four years later, in the dying moments of the vital quarterfinal qualification match Italy had a penalty which, had it gone over, would have eliminated Scotland. For all accounts that long-distance penalty kick looked to be going over, but fell centimeters short, again allowing Scotland to progress.

The vital game for Scotland this year was undoubtedly the Argentina match. Last year Scotland had a successful summer tour to Argentina, turning the Argentines over twice, so expectations in this year’s World Cup were high. These victories are fact, but the reality is that Scotland went into their Pool as third seed behind both Argentina and England.

At the moment Argentina are ranked 7^th in the World moving up recently from 8^th. At the same time Scotland has moved down to 10^th from 9^th, so is the loss really the disgrace it has been made out to be? It was close and we could have won, and we could also have beaten 4^th ranked England.

As far as rankings are concerned, from 6^th place to around 11th or 12th, it really is a matter of give and take. The positions change regularly, and any game between two teams in this category is going to be close. I don’t think underachievement is the word, perhaps missed opportunities with a pinch of bad luck, but realistically should Scotland have been expected to do better?

Samoa beating Australia, Tonga beating France, Ireland beating Australia, these are far bigger upsets than the losses Scotland suffered from. In the World Cup Scotland essentially beat the teams they were supposed to, and lost to the teams they were supposed to……just.

At the same time, they beat one of the teams they were supposed to in Romania…..just. Scotland came close to beating Argentina and England, but Romania cane close to doing the same to Scotland. Results in the two lost matches may be different in the future, but another consideration is could closely won matches be different in the future? How long will it be before Romania, Georgia and company start edging out higher ranked teams instead of coming close?

At the moment there are five or six clear top rugby Nations, and Scotland are not one of them.  They do seem to be expanding their style of play, and in time this will be key in competing with the top Nations.

The Scotland team are home now while the Nations left in the competition continue to battle it out. Could Scotland have done better.….yes. Should Scotland have done better….not necessarily.