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, 23:24 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-749: It seems to have hit a nerve, hey
17 Jul 2012, 23:27 pm
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-746: Gerbilised… TM (HG)
17 Jul 2012, 23:28 pm
+-@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-745:
#735 ain’t bad either
He’s still good, he’s getting old now 59 already
I saw him and his band in the late nineties and he rocked
It was special, there was probably around 200 or more, a lot of Natal and Capies
They held it on the lawns at the Butchart Gardens, it’s a very famous garden we’ve got here, started in an old limestone quarry in 1904
I’ll add the link, have a look at the photos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butchart_Gardens
17 Jul 2012, 23:31 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-747:
Yeah, a side effect is incessant whining
17 Jul 2012, 23:37 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-752:
Where did the Gerbil story start?
Did you start the Stormers Gerbil felching thread?
17 Jul 2012, 23:37 pm
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-753: Beautiful place. Looks like a good venue… hopefully acoustics not bad… 200 people? Thats not a concert – thats a personal audience… envious… Did you meet the man there…?
Remember seeing him in the 90′s too… Top guy.
59 isnt old for these musos… they seem to get a spurt from mid 50′s that carries them through to their 60′s… Last time I saw The Boss live, he had turned 60. And he gives it blood sweat and tears in concert… Much like Johhny
17 Jul 2012, 23:38 pm
Hey HG, thats one thing you’ve taught me on this site is not to take things to heart. In fact I enjoy your posts,well most of them, funny and informative. Like you, I had the joy of attending boarding school in the early eighties and will never meet so many fukd up guys who are friends for life.
Go Hard the Black and White
17 Jul 2012, 23:39 pm
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-754: Lol… That target on your back is going to grow
17 Jul 2012, 23:45 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-758:
Hey, not my back, I’m allergic to gerbils
17 Jul 2012, 23:47 pm
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-740: you actually think that sh’t is funny .. that stupid feeble idiocy of a joke you referring to?
No wonder this fck’d up society is so far gone round the bend.. you bloody morons actually think like that .. you think pathetic feeble garbage such as that filth is actually funny.. its goddamn sick man.. and if morons actually think garbage like that is funny.. I’d hate to see what they think is serious
Get goddamn real and crawl out the pathetic filth laden putrid gutter… the bunch of you.
17 Jul 2012, 23:51 pm
I like this Te Ragatira guy.
“Go Hard the Black and White”
And now he is an honorary Natalian.
Respect.
17 Jul 2012, 23:51 pm
Rangatira
17 Jul 2012, 23:52 pm
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-757: Lol… Those “fukd up guys” are the characters cuzzie… And Boarding School was a shithole… But a farken great shithole…
I would say Go Hard the Blues in reciprocation, but that would just be naaasty
Enjoy giving you Kiwis stick… some get with the program and give it back with interest with good humour… Enjoy the Cane bros (Hurricane and well… Cane), Nils (the worlds 1st Latvian Kiwi) and a few others… I see you getting amongst it too.
Just remember 95% is said in shitstirring jest or hyperbole and especially targeted at the irritating, the sanctimonious or the serious self righteous… There are a few earnest, passionate rugby lovers who I enjoy just reading… Knowledgeable and actually quite original in their rugger thinking…. And then you get the funnyfuckers… jeez some of these fools have literally nearly cause me a hernia from laughing…
Most is chewing the fat, or shitstirring stress relief in down time…
17 Jul 2012, 23:52 pm
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-760: lay off the sauce skop, you embarrassed yourself enough on this thread already.
17 Jul 2012, 23:52 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-756:
The sound was good, he’s a great performer, energy by the ton
No, I haven’t met him, I’ve met him at a concert once in Pretoria though
Mick Jagger was past sixty and he still knocked up a girl or two
I would love to see the Boss live
17 Jul 2012, 23:53 pm
the Maori’s have adopted the last bastion as their last hope for redemption.. ain’t it a hoot…opposing colonialists united in a far off land..
17 Jul 2012, 23:54 pm
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-766: boohoo he doesn’t like the Stormers go cry in the corners. Fucksakes you have the mentality of a two year old.
17 Jul 2012, 23:55 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-758:
Nokia never sleeps eh?
17 Jul 2012, 23:55 pm
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-759: Fark I can imagine it…
The Gerbil Launcher…. The new frightening assault weapon…
Brought to you by Cape Town Weapons Industries…
Pink camouflage only…
17 Jul 2012, 23:58 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-764: you get fck’d twiddle face smartarse.. go schmooze up your grandpappies sugar cane plantation blues.. the garbage some of you fuckwits think is nothing compared to what I pronounce out loud and clear…
17 Jul 2012, 23:59 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-769:
Pink and Brown camo afterwards?
PETA would have a fit
18 Jul 2012, 00:00 am
Te Rangi and VicBok… The NokiaNinja has just taken a liking to you…
“Fakefucks” gonna be sprayed all round, full automatic fire…
18 Jul 2012, 00:00 am
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-767: how do you know who he likes or dislikes… the two year old little moron here is none other but you and these other feeble fuckwits laughing at pathetic sick fck’d up moronic jokes… you pissarse little fucknut moron…
18 Jul 2012, 00:01 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-768:
18 Jul 2012, 00:03 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-773: yawn fakefck fiddlyarse piffleface runtcnt feeblefckadilly f’ckdup fckwit.
Its pretty easy to speak skop. What it means though, only the deranged one would know.
18 Jul 2012, 00:03 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-760:
Gotta take this time to say Fitz that you are the man, you took the time out to explain some home truths to me and were one of the few that actually gave me translations on certain Afrikaan phrases. Gotta lot of time for you mate. All the best.
18 Jul 2012, 00:04 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-765: Boss live is a treat… You will never ever forget it…
Seen him and E Street live twice… Categorically the best live concert I have ever been to… and been to a few.
18 Jul 2012, 00:05 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-771: @Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-772:
what kind morons are you two… you feeble fucknuts laughing at your own pathetic fck’d up jokes…. where’s the mirth you pathetic moronic punks… I’m searching hard for the guffaw laughing matter?
18 Jul 2012, 00:06 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-778: if you’re constantly complaining about this place why do you stick around?
18 Jul 2012, 00:08 am
The Skop… Some of the funniest, fckedup bullshitt I have read on this here site emanates from that Nokia…
18 Jul 2012, 00:10 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-780:
> The Skop
Is it the Cape Town version of the Hoff?
18 Jul 2012, 00:11 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-776:
One thing about most you Kiwi’s is you are genuine people.. not like some these pathetic screwup inbred saffas who parade around as if they got moral scruples meanwhile they sick to the f’ng core… most you guys.. like yourself, Cane, Hurricane, even NZinChina, few other etc.. you got basic scruples and basic honesty … the baby minded saffa contingent here.. largely speaking.. is pretty fck’d in the head to say the least..
18 Jul 2012, 00:14 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-778: Listen here fckface… I got no beef with you at present… But if its a texansteak sized, extra rare, piece of beef you want then come to daddy…
18 Jul 2012, 00:15 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-781: Yebo
18 Jul 2012, 00:16 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-778:
It’s because you’re the butt of the joke, pun intended
18 Jul 2012, 00:17 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-784:
Running slomo across the beach in this leopardskin Speedo?
Giving mouth to mouth to Ru Paul?
18 Jul 2012, 00:20 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-777:
I think he’s on tour this year?
Maybe he’ll have a concert in Vancouver, I’ll have a look
18 Jul 2012, 00:22 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-786:
Cuzzie… That is a funny picture, but you got that one wrong…
There is only one blogger that belongs in that picture… actually two… and I can actually imagine to two farkers having a race to get to Ru Paul, pink feather boas trailing chaotically in the Camps Bay beach breeze…
Grant10, or Gwantie
and
Justwugby, or Mini me
18 Jul 2012, 00:22 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-783: you too can get fck’d smartass… you ain’t no daddy you peanut baby brained moron… you no more than a feeble imbecile who got plenty growing still to do… you got plenty growing to do .. plenty… more than you halfway ready to admit or realize.
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-785: same for you I actually think you perhaps younger in your fck’d up head than this other pisswilly fcknut HG here…idiot..
18 Jul 2012, 00:26 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-787: Whatever you may think of his music now… Go to one of his concerts… You will be farken hooked to his music after… and his concerts.
“Hey Stevie… What time is it?”
“Its curfew Breaking BOSS time”….
18 Jul 2012, 00:29 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-788:
Don’t forget Ryan and Percy, they wouldn’t let an opportunity like that go by?
18 Jul 2012, 00:30 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-789: Growing all the time you farken vegetarian fake… You wanna know fake and I will show you the nearest farken vegetarian bunny hugger… Now wind your stumpy neck in… suck a lentil or two… and centre yourself with whatever newfangled new agey little craze you currently think is the bees knees in fake worldly wisdom, yeah?
18 Jul 2012, 00:33 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-790:
Walk like a man?
There was a series on Netflix called “Lilyhammer” a NY mobster going into witness protection in Lilyhammer in Norway. The guy who plays the gangster, Steven van Zandt, plays in the E Street band. He postponed thesecond series for the tour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilyhammer
18 Jul 2012, 00:35 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-792: catch up fckface you growing too slow moron.. get that woman who’s waiting for you to grow up to give you a kick up the jackass because you still haven’t got out of your kindergarten years yet… get a f’ng move on because times running out on you… wake up and grow up.. their ain’t no time like now..
18 Jul 2012, 00:37 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-792:
Maybe the lentils gave him a nightmare, a huge Ebony Godess sporting a 13″ wood as thick as a 2 Litre Coke bottle chasing him around Camps Bay
18 Jul 2012, 00:38 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-793: Steve van Zandt is Brooce’s right hand man… The farker actually loves Norway and the Scandinavian countries… it seems he is a real celeb there…
Actually if I ever had to have a mind’s eye pic of our Vege Nokiabasher it would be along the lines of Little Steven…
18 Jul 2012, 00:39 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-792: still a teeny weeny little teenybopper fck’d out on the boss and the E street band… you don’t know jackshit from whats grown up or whats fake or real… and it shows in all your kindergarten antics over here…
18 Jul 2012, 00:41 am
@fitz1ella(fitz1ella)-797:
Did he just insult the Boss?
18 Jul 2012, 00:42 am
the human race is still in its kindergarten formative years.. and the samples of imbecilic kindergarten children thinking they’re adults performing rituals of make believe idiocy don’t know the beginning of who or why or where they are from Adam…
18 Jul 2012, 00:45 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-796:
You should try to watch Lilyhammer, it’s very funny, it wasn’t a stretch for him to play a gangster at all, like Charlie in Two and a Half men, he just played himself
Skop wouldn’t be a gangster, he’s more like a skinnier Allan from 2 1/2 men with serious Tourettes
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