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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17 Jul 2012, 16:24 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.(The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food)-597: Shutup wench…
17 Jul 2012, 16:24 pm
@grant10(grant100)-595: why do you conviniently skip russell domingo who here at the warriors did magnificently?
oh he rubbishes your theory huh?
17 Jul 2012, 16:24 pm
@grant10(grant100)-595: “very WEEK coaches”? Oh dear.
You are the ‘weekest’ link? Your arguments are ‘week’?
#unfuckingrealthatonesofuckingstupidactuallythinksitissmart#
This is as good as Sharks_lover comment about the Stormers ‘cabernet’ trophy being empty.
17 Jul 2012, 16:26 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.(The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food)-597: Come on, he is a veritable orgasmatron!
17 Jul 2012, 16:26 pm
KP batted number 8 and was mostly a bit part player under a very lily-white coach.For some unknown reason at that time he and his old man actually believed that he was the best thing since slice bread.they had talks with Ali and demanded a guarantee that KP would be selected for the proteas in future.Ali ,correctly,told him to f-off.
17 Jul 2012, 16:27 pm
You cant hit a nerve with one post
Takes ten at least
17 Jul 2012, 16:29 pm
Here come WillieBeamon
He cumcreamin’
17 Jul 2012, 16:32 pm
In his book KP complains bitterly how Ali treated them.Seriously,what did he expect?
17 Jul 2012, 16:32 pm
So, still much angst at
the fact that the “Johnny” Sharks have made the playoffs, just the same as the “Top” team
the possibility that the “Johnnies” could make the semis, just the same as the “Title Holders”
If you think about it, the team that makes up most of the Bok selection should do… Its only natural
You fakefuckers…
17 Jul 2012, 16:34 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-607: You can’t even get that right…………
My name is Willie, Willie Beamen
I keep the ladies, creamin,
and all my fans, they are screamin.
@Skeppie(Skeppie)-604: See above. The prosecution rests.
17 Jul 2012, 16:35 pm
So Doggystyle the choker got a bit of a fixation on little old victim HG…
He cumcreamin’
He Willie Beamon
17 Jul 2012, 16:36 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.(The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food)-610: Its my righteous song, luvva… I write the words… and you swallow them whole, yeah?
17 Jul 2012, 16:37 pm
BS stormersforlife, KP played mostly under a coach & admin who prefers samoosas and bunnychows … he was told that we would never be a batsmen – Kahn, Bodi (at the time he was at the dolphins) and the Amla bro’s were tipped to be the next Tendulkar’s …. BIG FAIL!!!
17 Jul 2012, 16:39 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-611: Indeed I do. It’s not often I get to study specimens like you in an ‘unnatural (online and live) habitat’.
More of that later.
‘Jim’ calls.
17 Jul 2012, 16:39 pm
Why the chokin for victimly HG?
Choking, is it ‘cos a
Bulimious
or just
orally nefarious
Boom…
Why it could even be dynomous…
Choke choke…
While I smite
with dynamite….
17 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
dont start meyer bosman, bad idea
17 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.(The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food)-614: Fly away little Birdy
Fly away little bee…
Come back later
To specially see me…
17 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
Ali did everything possible to keep his nephew Adam in the side …. Adam with a test avg of 26 & a ODI average op 20 …. go figure! Ali makes Luyt look like Mandela
17 Jul 2012, 16:44 pm
Oh no…
Did I chase away all the multinics… All 5 of them… making 15
Wow… this is a big long thread…
Well I aint one o the local righteous gangland, silent majority…
What you see here is what you get…
Read on…
Its car crash blogging at its vintage finest…
So, this Storming KKK Angst… Its so endearing…
17 Jul 2012, 16:47 pm
@numba4lock(numba4lock)-616: he is only there as cover, whitehead & jordaan should start if both are fit.
17 Jul 2012, 16:48 pm
@numba4lock(numba4lock)-616: @Transformation(Transformation)-620: Keep him on the bench and bring him on in the last 20 minutes, at pivot
17 Jul 2012, 16:49 pm
I see you…
Come out and plaa – aaay…
This Johnny is waiting….
Y’all know what a Johnny is…?
Why, its a Shark, boys and “girlies”…
17 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
History will record that KP was selected as a spinner -who can bat a bit for Natal.In any case I don’t give a flying fck to the happenings that occured in Natal regarding the KP selection.That part of SA normally leaves me cold.
17 Jul 2012, 16:53 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-620: That the view of Megatron the Sharksworld “expert”…
And what gives you a stake in the Sharks all of a sudden?
Why the sudden interest of who is who in the Sharks midfield zoo…?
Whaddayouknow
17 Jul 2012, 16:54 pm
@grant10(grant100)-613: Nah mate you are wrong there. Ali was the best thing that ever happened to our cricket. KP was a late bloomer and good luck to the Poms for bringing out the best in him, at the time his batting average for the Dolphins was nothing great and his off spinners were “holding” at best. Who is he to say quotas pushed him out of SA cricket, he is a traitor and an arrogant tosser.
17 Jul 2012, 16:57 pm
@willievz(willievz)-621: he is a gamble where ever he comes in as he misses the very important tackles, digby ioane will be rubbing his hands for meyer take the field…
let’s hope by then the dynamite will have built a 30pt buffer
17 Jul 2012, 16:59 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-624: a shark baiting?
hamba uyodontsa ucingo
17 Jul 2012, 17:01 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-626: And what qualifies you as a Sharks midfield expert…
The man who professes “only Boks and Kings”….
Even though you are a Sharksworld…ahem… “contributor” or…even… “expert”
Get the fark off a Sharks thread, why don’t ya…. You have no shame?
17 Jul 2012, 17:01 pm
@Skeppie(Skeppie)-625: actualy he speaks the truth, maybe not exactly as he says, KP said this im simular lines, and i have heard this from a personal friend that played with KP in PMB and he is also an indian fellow,
17 Jul 2012, 17:02 pm
@Skeppie(Skeppie)-625: grant100 won’t like that comment, it won’t sit well with his persecution complex, all white sports people are being driven by quotas to him, even the likes of brad barritt who was trumped by francois steyn in the sharks team, it was quotas
17 Jul 2012, 17:02 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-626: Worst defenders in SA super rugby sides: Meyer Bosman, Morne Steyn, JP Engelbrecht, Pierre Spies, Willie Viljoen and Shadow.
17 Jul 2012, 17:03 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-627: Qaphela, mhlawumbe uRossi zobephawe phakathi nguus wakho… uzothanda impela isitabani… :lol
17 Jul 2012, 17:04 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-624: eish HG , us few sharks have this place in turmoil lol, funny how innocent them stormers are, oh wait include, fern and predawn
17 Jul 2012, 17:04 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-626:
All the Sharks’ midfielders have overshot the defensive line at some point this season, and not only on more mature phases where the makeup of the line is different from set phases.
Bosman is not the best midfield defender but at 10 he is closer to the forwards.
He is a robust carrier and distributor when the game opens up, particularly in the closer channels. Watch the tape of the Bulls/Sharks game at Loftus this year
17 Jul 2012, 17:04 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-628: indaba wena awazi niks ngombhoxo yikho lokho uvamise ukuza la ukhulume umbhedo mhlathi wakho.
17 Jul 2012, 17:06 pm
@Skeppie(Skeppie)-631: peter grant, willie le roux, willem alberts
17 Jul 2012, 17:07 pm
Ja, mhlawumbe uRossi indoda futhi… uyathanda indoda, ne umfanawami?
17 Jul 2012, 17:09 pm
For once I agree with you Skeppie.Ali Bacher is a legend and one of SA’s greatest cricket administrators.KP was too arrogant and Ali recognized that.Btw,no Indian man will convince me otherwise.
17 Jul 2012, 17:09 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-633: Ja, I had to laugh at the righteousness of our little umfana… Pointing fingers left, right and centre yet his use of the “vernacular” is enough to make Skopenskiet blush… Farken little twofaced tokoloshe
17 Jul 2012, 17:11 pm
@willievz(willievz)-634: that’s what they thought they were purchasing him for – distribution & physical ability with ball in hanf – but last year he was glaringly exposed numerous times, the worst of them being @ Twickenham by the saders.
17 Jul 2012, 17:12 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-637: UBanshee udliwe nguGBS igolo heh? manje akasafuni ipipi yakho encane?
17 Jul 2012, 17:12 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-639:
17 Jul 2012, 17:12 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-640: Give the man some slack. Everyone has the occasional off season.
Honestly, go and watch the tape of the Bulls/Sharks.
Best performance by an SA 10 this season.
17 Jul 2012, 17:12 pm
@stormerforlife1(stormerforlife1)-638: You mean Amandiya? hey Sonnyboy maBephainja…
BTW, welcome to your new name, multinic : just maBephainja…
17 Jul 2012, 17:15 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-644: you mean Mgodoyi,
17 Jul 2012, 17:16 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-644: catch up laters, i got a dvd to go enjoy with the missus lol
17 Jul 2012, 17:16 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-640: I think you just confused my little Sharksworld amateur… Maybe it was the Red and Black stripes…
I reckon you could actually have been watching the Kings vs Border or something, and with your notable “knowledge” and possible colourblindness along with a few sips of vintage skokiaan you actually thought it was Saders vs Sharks at Twickers
You poor sod
17 Jul 2012, 17:16 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-639: hahahaha
is that a Fibby fib?
17 Jul 2012, 17:18 pm
Idiot. It’s like Rockspiders insulting kiwi bloggers in Afrikaans .in any case,it’s like water of a duck’s back.If it makes you happy go ahead bud.
17 Jul 2012, 17:18 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-629: All I know if he was a number 8 batter who didn’t have a very good average and a mediocre spinner, why should Ali or anyone else have given him any guarentees? At the time he didn’t deserve it, he does now, but not back then? If back then he had an average of 40 and was taking wickets all over the place then fair enough he could have blamed quotas but that was not the case.
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