'How do you defend that': Quade Cooper's plan to stop Beauden Barrett
Speculation has been brewing in recent weeks whether veteran playmaker Quade Cooper will make a long-awaited return to the test arena against the All Blacks in Perth this week.
It has been four years since the 33-year-old last pulled on the green and gold jersey of Australia, and after Wallabies boss Dave Rennie called Cooper into his Rugby Championship squad as cover for the injured James O’Connor, a return to international rugby is in sight for the experienced pivot.
Whether or not Cooper will actually take to the field at Optus Stadium this weekend remains to be seen, with the likelihood of his 71st test appearance made murky by the fact he could depart the Australian camp as early as next week.
By that point, O’Connor is expected to rejoin the squad when it relocates to Queensland, where he is currently based, for the rest of the Rugby Championship.
The idea of thrusting Cooper into Australia’s match day squad for the final Bledisloe Cup test of the year has been labelled by some as short-sighted, but, should he feature at all, it would make for a tantalising storyline.
Not only for the fact that it would complete one of the unlikeliest test rugby comeback in recent times, but it would also be highly likely – almost certain, in fact – that Cooper would be pitted against Beauden Barrett in a head-to-head battle at No 10.
Barrett has a clear run to the starting All Blacks lineup in his preferred position of first-five after New Zealand head coach Ian Foster left incumbent playmaker Richie Mo’unga at home to attend the arrival of his second child.
Barrett, a two-time World Rugby Player of the Year, is subsequently set for a prolonged spell in the No 10 jersey for the first time since 2018 after having featured predominantly at fullback for the All Blacks in recent seasons.
The 30-year-old has started just once at first-five this season, against Fiji in Dunedin, but has struggled to reclaim his place in New Zealand’s starting team due to Mo’unga’s mercurial rise in form.
However, with New Zealand and Australia’s border restrictions ruling Mo’unga out for an additional two weeks once he eventually travels across the Tasman to link back up with the All Blacks squad, Barrett will have a lengthy run of games to state his case for inclusion in future starting teams.
The first of those auditions begins this weekend, and that, Cooper said, presents a daunting task for the Wallabies, who have already felt the wrath of Mo’unga’s attacking prowess this year and now have ready themselves for an onslaught from Barrett.
“That’s the thing about the All Blacks. You’ve got Richie Mo’unga staying at home for the birth of one of his children, and you have Beaudy come in – two of the best players in the world,” Cooper told media on Tuesday.
Hard to disagree with Beaudy here ? #AllBlackshttps://t.co/zf8b9OCPxJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 1, 2021
“How do you defend that? It’s one of those things that you can only put so much emphasis on one person and stop them. It’s just more about slowing them down, and the ABs as a whole.
“They’ve been a phenomenal team over the past three games and we’re very much more focused on trying to nail down our stuff.”
Although the Wallabies were, among other things, guilty of poor decision-making and inaccurate at the set piece in their first two defeats to the All Blacks in Auckland last month, Cooper said his team’s focus on improvement is much broader than just fixing specific issues.
He said the development of Australia’s younger, less-experienced players – such as young pivot Noah Lolesio, who has started at No 10 in all of the Wallabies tests this year – is paramount for the overall improvement of Rennie’s side.
“We’ve got a lot of young players, as we spoke about, that have shown some great things over the past few games and the series against the French,” Cooper said.
“So, as long as those guys can continue to grow, everybody in the squad puts their hand up and tries to push each other, then hopefully we’ll be in a great spot.
“But, to answer your question, he [Barrett] is a difficult bloke to be able to contain, and we’ll be trying to slow him down as best we can.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments