Cooper’s absence gives Sharks a gap
17 Jul 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes the Reds will miss Quade Cooper’s attacking influence as well as his kicking game when they host the Sharks this Saturday.
Cooper has been suspended for one match following a dangerous tackle on Berrick Barnes, and not for the first time this season Ewen McKenzie will ask a utility player to fill the Reds’ flyhalf void.
A serious knee injury sustained at the 2011 World Cup sidelined Cooper for most of this year’s Super Rugby competition. As a result, the Reds haven’t been as much of a threat on attack, and haven’t been as effective at implementing their kicking game via that imposing Wallabies halfback pairing.
The Reds have looked a better side since Cooper’s return, and scored a bonus-point win over the Waratahs last Saturday to claim the Australian conference title. However, it is Cooper’s transgression and subsequent suspension that could prevent the Reds from advancing any further in this tournament, as they don’t have another player in the same class.
Former Wallabies centre Tim Horan said as much following Cooper’s dangerous tackle. Predictably, McKenzie has responded by pointing to the Reds’ earlier performances when Cooper was still on the sideline. McKenzie cited wins that were achieved without Cooper, and believes that the Reds will cope with the most recent setback and progress to the semi-finals.
McKenzie has also said that the Reds ‘owe the Sharks one’, referring to the Sharks’ win against the Reds in the league phase. It was in this match where the Reds’ flyhalf problem quickly became a nightmare, as further injuries to flyhalves resulted in Will Genia finishing the game at pivot.
Genia will miss having Cooper on his inside this Saturday. The Wallabies halfback pair was integral to the Reds’ success in the 2011 Super Rugby competition as well as the Wallabies’ Tri-Nations victory. Both are outstanding individual players, but that halfback combination is more than the sum of its parts.
Every opponent of the Reds has been on a ‘Get Genia’ campaign this season, and attempts to disrupt the Reds at source is no new tactic. The Sharks will surely aim to bully the Reds up front and deny Genia a platform from which to play, but they should also work to further negate his space.
The fact that Cooper is not on Genia’s outside means there should be more pressure on the scrumhalf to play the role of general, as well as provide the attacking impetus. It’s a lot of responsibility, and the Sharks would do well to use this pressure to their advantage.
The Sharks will be without three key players of their own, as Pat Lambie (ankle injury), Pieter-Steph du Toit (ankle injury) and Frans Steyn (ineligible) will not be available.
However, it is more significant that their heavy hitting Springboks should be back in the starting line-up. The inclusion of Willem Alberts and Bismarck du Plessis will aid the Sharks’ quest for gainline supremacy, as well as the aim to stifle Genia’s influence.
Steyn has made a massive impact since joining the Sharks, and the Durban-side will miss his physical influence as well as his prodigious boot. Coach John Plumtree has the option of moving Tim Whitehead to No 12 and bringing Paul Jordaan in at No 13, but a like-for-like replacement would be more prudent. Meyer Bosman is an imposing physical specimen and has the type of kicking game that is so often the difference in tight play-off matches.
It’s a big ask to travel across the world and win a play-off, and I’m not suggesting that the Sharks will have it easy in Brisbane. But there’s little doubt that the absence of Cooper will effect the Reds’ balance and increase the chances of a Sharks upset.
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827 Comments
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18 Jul 2012, 00:45 am
800 posts .. time to butt out and leave the guffaw jokes to the goons on parade…
out
18 Jul 2012, 00:46 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-794: We all grow slow… Remembering what we once were… what we once could do…
But fuckit if I wont try doing it all still… I will Die farken trying, and grasping, at those dying little embers of youth…
If you dont, that’s when you grow old… You fade away…
And it sometimes drives my woman to farken tear her hair out, but at the end of the day, it is me… she aint gonna change it… and she loves me for it…
18 Jul 2012, 00:48 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-797: Boss beats Ella Fitzy hands down anyday, anywhere… You know why?
He aint fake…
18 Jul 2012, 00:50 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-802: yip she loves you for your childlike exuberance which is your absolute saving grace.. without her you are absolutely fck’d .. but you still gonna have to grow up someday .. cos someday is getting nearer..
I’m out for now.. if I still got this same nic .. maybe see you tomorrow.
18 Jul 2012, 00:50 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-799:
Yeah, whoop whoop, a posting without swearing, not one Fck, FCKUP OR ANY F WORD
18 Jul 2012, 00:51 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-800: Van Zandt also was in Tony Sopranos family for a while…
18 Jul 2012, 00:52 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-803:
He also eats meat and lots of groupie V-Bone steaks
18 Jul 2012, 00:53 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-804: Hasta la vista…
18 Jul 2012, 00:53 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-806:
He had to leave, Tony was scared of him
You should see how he sorted out the Ultra civilized PC Norwegians
18 Jul 2012, 00:54 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-808:
He’ll be back, sigh
18 Jul 2012, 00:55 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-802:
Ruark said “there’s nothing as sad as a man who takes himself to seriously”
18 Jul 2012, 00:59 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-807: I know this Springs skebenga now… He comes in, wiggles a few hooks and catches the fish left right and centre… Sometimes the big “fakefuck” harpoon gets slung too.
The Punch (him) and Judy (Cab) show is a late night existential bullshitt classic…
Anyway am over and out too… Just saw the time… And the Banshee stirring
18 Jul 2012, 01:04 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-812:
Thanks for chatting, Bye
PS. Show her who’s boss, or BOSS
18 Jul 2012, 01:26 am
S H A R K Sssssssssssssssss
18 Jul 2012, 08:22 am
Surely it’s obvious that the loss of Cooper is a problem for the Reds. How is this a big insight from the Keo team?
“Get Genia” is what teams have done because it is so obvious.
Unscientifically I would say that Genia gets to the breakdown much faster than any scrum-half in Super Rugby. And he’ll do that for 80 minutes. His pass is excellent and his sniping is excellent. Most significantly his ability to fool inside channel defenders, straighten up, and break the line, is just brillant.
Every Shark player that could possibly be playing pillar defense needs to hear that you commit to the Genia tackle every time; never buy the dummy and never let him through on the inside.
If you force Genia into a predictable passing game the Reds attack becomes ordinary, and the absence of Cooper exacerbates that.
18 Jul 2012, 09:14 am
739.Heavens Game:
PS. Luvving the angst and tension at the moment… 
?17 Jul 2012, 23:10 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-737: I reckon its because most Sharks supporters, coming from the Last Outpost, the Land of the Zulus, and Little India just dont take themselves and this site too seriously and too personally… In essence we are shitstirrers and bullshit spreaders deluxe… It gets easier and easier with these Breezers… You almost don’t have to do a thing anymore… Plant a few “trueisms” and then just watch the KKK punch themselves in the teeth… repeatedly… To great mirth
The only fans on Keo.co.za who genuinely seem not to take things too seriously are the Stormers fans. Win or lose they are always here chatting and have done so since the start of Keo.co.za. HeavenShame and his Freaky Family however disappear in sulking fits of angst and bad sportsmanship when their team loses. So it is obvious to anyone with an intelligence quotient above a single digit just who takes themselves and things too seriously.
If the definition of insanity is endlessly repeating the same task expecting difference results how would Einstein define repeating the same smutty schoolboy jokes for years on end and still sniggering and snuggering at them every single time they tell these hackneyed jokes. Raving straitjacket lunatics escaped from the mental asylum no doubt.
18 Jul 2012, 09:16 am
The only angst and tension on exhibition here to the neutral rugby lover is from the Fritzl Family of Sharks supporters. Before the kick of the first match these geniuses all predicted the Sharks would not only win local conference but also win the Super 15too. They all predicted the newly crowned Currie Cup Champions would thrash the Stormers and that the Stormers would come stone last. They have made the same prediction every week since then that the Stormers would slide down to the bottom of the log too. Now they are wringing their hands in worry and whimpering like petrified fools in fear of the Stormers winning the Super Rugby Trophy. Now these integrity-less fools think say the Conference title they so coveted is meaningless. Now they have made the play-offs they think they are the best team in the competition and have already won the Cup. They believe they just have to grace Brisbane with their aura and the Reds will roll over and die. The arrogance of these fools is stupefying.
Coach Coetzee proved all his detractors wrong that if they keep winning bonus points become irrelevant. The Sharks were six bonus points short of a conference win. The Stormers have been the most consistent team in the competition. The fact is that this year in this competition the Stormers are the best team. Sharks fans need to demonstrate a little grace and accept this fact but we all know they will not.
18 Jul 2012, 09:18 am
DNA test results have proved that Wooden Spoon and Sharks Lover are indeed members of the Fritzl Freak Family. They have shown time and again that they just can not resist the temptation of dipping their oars into the muddy hole of HeavenShame. Along with petrock Predawn and Little SisterDaughter Fern Grandpa Sharks Lover and Little Son Wooden Spoon can’t wait to pleasure Daddy HeavenShame rutting like desperate weasels on crack whenever HeavenShame bends over to open his mouth.
Even the wise council of his ‘friends’ Stormersboy and UFO was flippantly dismissed yesterday by this phillipe-phillopping emochild trapped in a grannys body. Wooden Spoon declared himself resolved to rise out of the gutter but just could not help himself. One sniff of filth and he jumped right back in to wallow. As they say you can take the boy out of the gutter but you can’t stop him eating poo.
18 Jul 2012, 09:22 am
I told you all and warned you that the sexually obsessed Fritzl Freak HeavenShame is not only a drunken alcoholic determined to drag everyone down into the gutter with him but that his other obsession with ‘multinics’ (a term he coined by the way) is because he uses them all the time to stir controversy and conflict between any bloggers enjoying talking about rugby. HeavenShame has denied he uses other nics crossing his heart and hoping to die if he tells a lie.
So when I challenged his statement criticizing ‘new’ bloggers his rush defense is that he has been on Keo.co.za for years before the ‘great trek’ where he used to blog under another nic. So good keozins far from ‘exposing’ anyone using a ‘multinic’ as he keeps threatening to do in his rush to cover one lie HeavenShame has exposed himself to another. He has been lying about the use of ‘multinics’.
Now exposed as a liar I wonder if HeavenShame will tell everyone:
1 What his original nic was when he “Was known as one of the wise men…”
2 Who dubbed him a “wise man”
3 Why he felt the need to change his nic and
4 Why did he hide the fact that he was ‘an old blogger’ from people who respected him as a “wise man” until now?
What is laughable is that you try to hang the ‘multinic’ stigma on those who have called you up for being the pathetic repugnant deceiver you are. You can not challenge them intelligently through your alcoholic haze so resort to crying they use ‘multinics’ because it is impossible for them to prove a negative. Cunning of you but very obvious and transparent to any intelligent blogger here.
483.Heavens Game:
?16 Jul 2012, 10:26 am
@Dirty Harry(FckU2)-481: Hehehe Harriet, you are such a chick.
Once, long ago, near the time of the “great trek” I did blog under another Nic… Was known as one of the wise men…
Ever since I have blogged under this current Nic only, other than losing some name changer bets to Skop, Cab and Stormersboy, of course.
If you do know of any other Nics that you think I blog under please tell me… It will be news to me… However it seems you and the rest of my cheerleaders – WeeWee and Stawmy the HiddenHomo are seeing HG shadows everywhere… I am in your minds
18 Jul 2012, 09:31 am
@Dirty Harry(FckU2)-819: Well for you to post all that and go through that effort?? i would say with ease that HG has your mind in the palm of his hands
18 Jul 2012, 09:53 am
Chortle chortle chortle Sharks Lover you funny old fool. Funny peculiar not funny haha. Does it not worry you that you are such a dishonest twofaced scumchucker? (insert surprised smiley face) What am I thinking of course you do not. Dishonesty and hyprocrissy comes naturally to you. It defines you. Typically you Fritzl Family Freaks fling the poo and when anyone responds you are in their minds? Get over yourself already you old fool?
I would say that that you have HGs d#ck in the palm of your hands with ease. Do your best job now for your master. Chortle chortle.
There can be few things more pitiful than an aged wrinkled old wankman.
18 Jul 2012, 10:41 am
@Dirty Harry(FckU2)-821: only one here with a master is you , and that HG as he has you splattering like a fish in the desert, throw all the tantrums you want, not gonna help you 1 iona
18 Jul 2012, 15:01 pm
UFO Seems your seed fell on stony ground. Bad pun (Referring to yesterdays
appeal by you,and not to Onanism)
18 Jul 2012, 15:06 pm
@ryecatcher(ryecatcher)-823:
sure seems that way…
i’ll see your bad pun and raise you an even worse one…
seems like i was firing blanks…!!!
18 Jul 2012, 15:34 pm
Grant @ 618.Spoke to him once or twice.Quite arrogant.
18 Jul 2012, 15:35 pm
Ali not Adam
18 Jul 2012, 15:56 pm
Rugby Guru @ 732.Is that what fu ckadilly is???
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