Saturday, September 22, 2012

Fainga'a defends under-fire Cooper

Updated September 18, 2012 12:54:48

Wallabies centre Anthony Fainga'a has defended Australian fly half Quade Cooper's lacklustre performances in the Rugby Championship so far.

Cooper began the competition on the sidelines, returning for the second clash with the All Blacks where the impotent Wallabies were shut out 22-0.

After a mixed performance against the Springboks ended well with a late effort seeing Australia win 26-19, the Wallabies were then forced to come back from 13 points down in the second half against Argentina at the weekend.

The great recovery, which culminated in a 23-19 victory, could not hide the focus from Cooper's error-ridden game.

Despite this lack of form, Cooper's Queensland Reds' team-mate Fainga'a is certain Cooper is Australia's best option at number 10.

"I feel that there's been a lot of pressure put on him and he toughed it out in that first half, came back in the second half, played very clinical, played our game plan, we won the game," Fainga'a said.

"We're nutting out games that we shouldn't be winning. He'll hit his rhythm soon, the more game time he plays, the better he'll become."

Tags: sport, rugby-union, qld

First posted September 18, 2012 12:53:46


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