Deans gives Quade the thumbs up
10 Oct 2011
Robbie Deans reckons Quade Cooper will have no problem coping with the pressure of a World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks in Auckland.
Cooper was awful against the Springboks. He didn’t get much quality ball, but when he was in possession he looked rattled and indecisive. The occasion looked to get to him.
Deans disagreed: ‘He is a pretty resilient character. He’s delighted, as we all are, that we got through that challenge. He was part of that, he did some good things within that and was the point of difference on occasions.’
Deans added that lesser players may have struggled in a similar situation but was confident Cooper was mentally strong enough to produce a match-winning performance against the All Blacks.
‘You get high profile players and they get an inordinate amount of scrutiny and an inordinate amount of reinforcement when things go well,’ Deans told the media.
‘That can create challenges with them when things don’t go quite so well. If their piece of it isn’t what they’d hope it would be, it can bring mental baggage.
‘But I think Quade has actually come a long way, in terms of his understanding around that this is a team game and it’s about helping the team to get up.
‘He did that and he deserves his piece of enjoyment off the back of that. It’s a great risk for players. They actually miss a lot of what the game is all about when they get distracted by their little piece within it. So we’re confident, he’ll bounce back. He is a resilient character.
‘Clearly he wouldn’t have been happy with his performance, but everybody made mistakes, some of our best made mistakes. But collectively they worked their way through it.’
Deans confirmed that all the players were expected to be available for Sunday’s semi-final.
18 Comments
10 Oct 2011, 07:29 am
Pocock saved your butt Dingo. Admit it! Quade is not longer a factor
10 Oct 2011, 07:37 am
Put it this way – he can’t play any worse than he did yesterday. Not just kicking and handling errors but indecision, nonchalance, poor self-belief. I hope this doesn’t play on his mind for the ABs game.
Everyone has been quick to (quite rightly) condemn Cooper for that performance but it’s not as though he has forgotten how to play. Prior to the RWC people were saying he was the most exciting player in the world.
I’m expecting a huge game from him this wk.
10 Oct 2011, 07:42 am
if they pressure him like yesterday he will ffuck up and the ab’s will be a lot more clinical with try opportunities.
no faith in him, ab’s to take it and play france in the final.
10 Oct 2011, 07:44 am
Congratulations to Australia… deserved winners… they did, after all, pay the ref… sorry… pLay the ref better…
Seriously though… we’re out of the Cup… time to choose our next-bests and enjoy the rest of the tourney… or go fishing…
Sure it’s a tough loss and i’m hurting as much as everyone… but time to move on…
No use blaming the ref or anything or anyone else…
We played our best game in ages and with all the stats going our way… we should have been able to take the result out of anyone else hands… it’s should never be about leaving our destiny in the ref’s hands or the oppositions… we have to go out there and grab it ourselves with both hands… and in this case we did not…
Life goes on… so does rugby… so will the debate about it…
scrape your hearts off the floor… we’ve still got the CC…!!
10 Oct 2011, 07:44 am
Cooper has off games, he always has. The difference this time was we still managed to win. He will turn it around, he always does. He certainly seems more composed with Barnes outside him.
10 Oct 2011, 07:47 am
Nicely put UFO. It’s great to see some sportsmanship from a Saffa. I honestly still cannot understand how we won that game.
10 Oct 2011, 07:50 am
@corms(corms)-6: You were bloody jammy .. I think that it was the first time i have seen the Boks get 74% possesion and then not win the game !!! We will send you back across the Tasmin next weekend dont worry.
10 Oct 2011, 07:54 am
Excellent. We know Robbie Deans is a NZer at heart. As is Quade Cooper. Both taking one for the team. wonderful strategy by the NZRFU.
10 Oct 2011, 07:55 am
Hi Stew, it was 76% actually but who’s counting. As for sending us across the Tasman maybe, maybe not. I guess it depends on how the Hurricanes back line performs. After the Super 15 let’s hope they’ve improved for your sake. Also, I’m looking forward to Donald playing very much.
10 Oct 2011, 08:11 am
@ufo(ufo)-4:
if you knew how i felt yesterday…i thought i might need to see a doctor this morning.
10 Oct 2011, 08:15 am
@corms(corms)-6:
Thanks Corms…
Yeah… we’ve won games recently that we haven’t deserved to – such as Wales – when the opposition has won everything but the game… These things happen.
Sure I’m gutted… but life is just too short to spend it moping for anything… today’s a new day and here to be made the most of.
Good luck to you guys next weekend.
Must nail my colours to the mast and say I’m backing the ABs.
Nothing personal you understand…
10 Oct 2011, 08:20 am
Nobody is perfect.
10 Oct 2011, 08:26 am
@once more unto the breach, dear springboks, once more…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-10:
hehehe… we ALL felt like that bud…
but i really think we played well… so think we bowed out with much honour…
i know it’s an old-fashioned notion and many will critics me for it… but for me… it really is about how we play the game… sure… i’ll take an ugly or lucky win… but… win or lose… i always prefer to be able to say my team really played well and played the better rugby… I haven’t been able to say that for the boks or wp-stormers too often lately… so… am genuinely proud of how john and the boys did….
it serve little purpose to nitpick who did what and try and lady the blame a some port players feet… i think they all put everything on the line… so am quite comfortable with the team… sure i’d rather have won… but hey… it is what it is… and we can’t make it what it isn’t… so why try…
now there’s exciting stuff to look forward to… new coach… new captain… new team… plenty changes and change is always exciting…
10 Oct 2011, 08:27 am
criticise me…
10 Oct 2011, 09:09 am
Cooper always picks up his performance for the AB’s, so who knows. I recon it’s the coach that comes up with the best plan who will win this one. Ab’s have their problems with injuries, who knows how it will play out. Big week for the Ab’s! Big week!
10 Oct 2011, 09:47 am
@ufo(ufo)-13:
agreed.
will always be a proud bok supporter, especially if they win with style.
the guys played with everything they had yesterday and i dont want to start singling out yet, but, i do just want to say that once again fdp was slow and ponderous at times and made feel frustrated a lot.
frustrated because having to watch the shadow of his former self in action and knowing he is possibly capable of getting back to that ability again but just not during that one game where it mattered most was/is hard to take.
i wanted houhgaard to replace him at half time but this was not to be.
anyway, as you say…new coach, new captain, new team…go bokke!
10 Oct 2011, 13:18 pm
Just wondering why Wallaby lock Vickerman has not been cited for the way he was diving head-first into rucks, without binding on using his arms. He did that to Brussouw, smashing into his ribs and effectively putting him out of the match. Against the British and Irish Lions a few seasons ago, Bakkies Botha was cited and banned for going into a ruck without using his arms. Welsh prop Jones suffered a broken arm in that incident but did not blame Bakkies. Nevertheless Botha was banned. This begs the question: why has nothing been done about Vickerman?
11 Oct 2011, 00:49 am
@cambok(cambok)-17: There were a couple of incidence off the ball but I’m happy to let all of them lie. One of the reasons is that if they look too hard into that game Schalk could go for a while. He was raking his hands and attacking Pococks head in one of those rucks right in front of the referee – I was sure he was about to be carded.
Anyway – should be a good game on the weekend. If Deans picks Cooper he must be on the NZRU payroll. Kiwis to win by 15 if Cooper plays. You can put money on that.
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