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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O'Neill defends arduous Wallabies schedule

Updated May 22, 2012 22:50:37

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) boss John O'Neill has pointed to history and the rival rugby code to justify the Wallabies' tough early season schedule.

The Wallabies open their season with a one-off Test against Scotland in Newcastle on June 5 and play the first of three internationals against Wales in Brisbane just four days later.

While the Reds and Force have a bye the weekend prior, some Brumbies and Waratahs face the prospect of three matches in eight or nine days if they participate in both Tests after playing the previous weekend.

O'Neill said the situation was not ideal but it was manageable.

He suggested the selectors would pick a squad of 30 or more to cover playing two games in such close proximity.

While some pundits have suggested playing two Tests so close together could devalue the jersey if an under-strength team was chosen, O'Neill was confident competitive teams would be picked for both games.

"I don't necessarily understand why there'd be undue emphasis on the fact that we're playing Scotland on the Tuesday and Wales on the Saturday," O'Neill told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"There's a State of Origin (rugby league) game tomorrow night, and a full round of NRL on the weekend, where a lot of the State of Origin players will back up.

"The life of a professional footballer is such that a short turnaround is not ideal but it's manageable.

"If you go back into the history pages you would see teams go on tour and play well over 20, 25, 30 games and a lot of players would play midweek and then on a weekend."

O'Neill revealed the midweek Test was a favour to Scotland, which was keen to play the Wallabies before Tests against Fiji and Samoa later in the month.

"It's not a schedule that you would normally plan," O'Neill said.

"It won't be happening in future years. This is is a one-off to accommodate particular circumstances with the timing of Scotland's tour to the Pacific Islands."

O'Neill predicted the ARU was likely to break even this year after reporting a loss last year.

Despite clinching a more favourable distribution of revenues from the next World Cup, O'Neill could not guarantee Australia would not undertake another arduous schedule moving forward.

"As to the future of additional Test matches, you never say never," he said.

"But certainly our financial circumstances, given the additional distribution of funds by the IRB, doesn't make those decisions as necessitous as they were in the past."

AAP

Tags: rugby-union, sport, australia

First posted May 22, 2012 21:09:35

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Wallaby kicking coach defends Cup ball

Updated October 07, 2011 09:19:05

Australia kicking coach Braam van Straaten has rejected suggestions the Rugby World Cup match ball is to blame for kicking woes at the tournament, declaring it "the best ball I've ever kicked".

Wayward goalkicking has been a talking point at the World Cup, with the focus falling on the "Virtuo" match ball that English manufacturer Gilbert created for the event.

All Black superboot Dan Carter said before he suffered a tournament-ending injury that unfamiliarity with the ball was the reason his kicking success rate had slumped to 67 per cent at the World Cup, compared to 75 in the Tri Nations.

England kicker Jonnie Wilkinson, meanwhile, has a success rate of less than 50 per cent, well below his normal standard.

But former Springbok international van Straaten, who was involved in testing the ball for Gilbert at its South African launch, said there was nothing wrong with it.

"There's no problem with the ball, it's the best ball I've ever kicked," he said Thursday ahead of this weekend's World Cup quarter-finals.

"The ball travels really true, there's nothing wrong with it so I'm looking forward to seeing how it's going to go on the weekend," added van Straaten, who in his 21 Tests for the Springboks from 1999 to 2001 scored 221 points, including 23 conversions and 55 penalty goals.

"Hats off to Gilbert. It's a really, really good quality ball, nice and heavy, the flight is true and I think it all comes down to technique."

The ball is billed as having "innovative valve and bladder designs that will deliver superior shape retention and spin rate".

Australia faces van Straaten's native South Africa, the defending champion, in a quarter-final at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday.

AFP

Tags: rugby-union-world-cup, rugby-union, sport, new-zealand, australia

First posted October 06, 2011 23:14:14

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De Villiers defends resting Bok stars

Updated July 13, 2011 09:30:50

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has defended his decision to leave 21 front line players at home for the Tri-Nations away legs, saying they were physically wrecked after the expanded Super Rugby season.

This year's Super Rugby competition included 15 teams and was played over 21 weeks versus last year's 16, while the intensity of more derby games exposed players to extra physical demands.

De Villiers last week pulled 21 leading players, who are likely to form the core of the Springboks' World Cup defence, out of the squad to tour Australia and New Zealand.

They play Tests against the Wallabies in Sydney on July 23 and All Blacks in Wellington on July 30.

"Super glue won't even help those players. It was the sensible decision to rest them. For one moment of greatness, why bugger up a player's future?" De Villiers said on Tuesday.

"CJ van der Linde has a really bad groin and Johann Muller's hamstring is even worse but we will take them overseas.

"So can you imagine how badly injured the players who are staying behind are?"

The coach, who did raise some eyebrows by including hooker and captain John Smit in the touring party, said he was confident the 2007 World Cup winner will be back to his best at this year's edition in New Zealand in September.

"After those two matches overseas, John Smit will be where I want him to be. He hasn't been used properly this year," he said.

"I believe he's gained an extra year for himself after a neck operation last year, a great off-season and great preseason preparation. He is fresh, raring to go and he just needs game time.

"I trust in John Smit, he's a great world star, a fine player and I'm going to give him the opportunity to show that again. Nobody rated him, then he won the World Cup, and now nobody rates him again."

Sharks coach John Plumtree preferred the mobile and physical Bismarck du Plessis over Smit as his team made the Super Rugby play-offs but De Villiers stressed the Springboks have different players and would use their hooker in a different role.

"The attributes that Bismarck du Plessis provides for the Sharks are the same ones that Juan Smith provides for the Springboks. The Sharks don't have a Juan Smith at flank, so you can't compare the decisions John Plumtree makes for them. I know John Smit can take his game to another level," De Villiers said.

He said fly half Morne Steyn had been included in the touring party "because all the other fly halves are injured" but said openside flank Heinrich Brussow, also considered a certainty for the World Cup squad, might not be rushed back into action even though he will travel to Australasia.

"Every time he has been injured, he has come back too early, and we were the same last week in training. He's a valuable player, a fine player you build a team around, so we can't afford to lose him. We won't push him," De Villiers added.

- Reuters

Tags: rugby-union-world-cup, sport, rugby-union, south-africa, australia, new-zealand

First posted July 13, 2011 08:05:00

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