For a code that must look hard for good news, the painful unravelling of Quade Cooper in Melbourne on Friday night was a nightmare on multiple levels.
The Rebels No.10's early-season form had been a barometer of Australian rugby's marginal improvement, so his disintegration against the Chiefs confirmed the pessimists' view – and there are plenty of them – that when the pressure really comes on, too many Australian players fold.
Cooper gifted the Chiefs two tries with poor kicks, was fended off by the 75kg Brad Weber and then booted two restarts out on the full.
Rebel with a lost cause: Quade Cooper reflects on where it all went wrong on Friday night in Melbourne.Credit:AAP
Somewhere, Brad Thorn was saying in that gruff voice of his: "I told ya."
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Cooper was completely outplayed by Chiefs No.10 Jack Debreczeni, a former Rebels player who has never looked happier in Melbourne than he did on Friday.
Coming directly after the Waratahs' supine effort against the Highlanders on Friday, the Rebels' capitulation meant that Australian rugby is heading into another Super Rugby finals series with just one team in the hunt.
Beyond that, it is heading into a Rugby World Cup with Wales and Fiji in the Wallabies' pool. You don't need to be a genius to work out the worst-case scenario here.
This really is the gravest of matters because there are signs that the culture of underperformance and losing is becoming so deeply embedded that it will be hard to eradicate.
Of all the things that annoyed me about the Rebels' performance against the Chiefs, the celebration of Matt Philip's try midway through the second half was perhaps the worst.
Fair play to the big second-rower, it was a nice effort. But, at that stage, the score was 47-3 to the Chiefs. So, not only were the Rebels' finals hopes already gone, they were getting embarrassed on their home ground in front of their own people.
I can't accept that any sort of try in those circumstances would be worthy of celebrating. You should be so filthy that you're trying to smash anyone that comes near you.
It encapsulated a real "just happy to participate" mentality that former Waratah Stephen Hoiles alluded to in his post-match comments. Hoiles, who was advocating for a return to three Australian teams in Super Rugby, indicated that it had become too easy for Australians to become professional rugby players in the past decade.
Setting the three-teams-versus-four teams debate aside, you have to take Hoiles' comments seriously here. As a player he straddled two eras, so he is perfectly placed to make that observation.
The only Rebels player who showed a deep personal pride in their performance was Isi Naisarani. The Fijian ended up trying to do the work of about five players because he has grown up in a rugby environment where you have to fight in every contest just to get noticed.
The great pity in all of this is that the Australian conference hasRead More – Source
For a code that must look hard for good news, the painful unravelling of Quade Cooper in Melbourne on Friday night was a nightmare on multiple levels.
The Rebels No.10's early-season form had been a barometer of Australian rugby's marginal improvement, so his disintegration against the Chiefs confirmed the pessimists' view – and there are plenty of them – that when the pressure really comes on, too many Australian players fold.
Cooper gifted the Chiefs two tries with poor kicks, was fended off by the 75kg Brad Weber and then booted two restarts out on the full.
Rebel with a lost cause: Quade Cooper reflects on where it all went wrong on Friday night in Melbourne.Credit:AAP
Somewhere, Brad Thorn was saying in that gruff voice of his: "I told ya."
Advertisement
Cooper was completely outplayed by Chiefs No.10 Jack Debreczeni, a former Rebels player who has never looked happier in Melbourne than he did on Friday.
Coming directly after the Waratahs' supine effort against the Highlanders on Friday, the Rebels' capitulation meant that Australian rugby is heading into another Super Rugby finals series with just one team in the hunt.
Beyond that, it is heading into a Rugby World Cup with Wales and Fiji in the Wallabies' pool. You don't need to be a genius to work out the worst-case scenario here.
This really is the gravest of matters because there are signs that the culture of underperformance and losing is becoming so deeply embedded that it will be hard to eradicate.
Of all the things that annoyed me about the Rebels' performance against the Chiefs, the celebration of Matt Philip's try midway through the second half was perhaps the worst.
Fair play to the big second-rower, it was a nice effort. But, at that stage, the score was 47-3 to the Chiefs. So, not only were the Rebels' finals hopes already gone, they were getting embarrassed on their home ground in front of their own people.
I can't accept that any sort of try in those circumstances would be worthy of celebrating. You should be so filthy that you're trying to smash anyone that comes near you.
It encapsulated a real "just happy to participate" mentality that former Waratah Stephen Hoiles alluded to in his post-match comments. Hoiles, who was advocating for a return to three Australian teams in Super Rugby, indicated that it had become too easy for Australians to become professional rugby players in the past decade.
Setting the three-teams-versus-four teams debate aside, you have to take Hoiles' comments seriously here. As a player he straddled two eras, so he is perfectly placed to make that observation.
The only Rebels player who showed a deep personal pride in their performance was Isi Naisarani. The Fijian ended up trying to do the work of about five players because he has grown up in a rugby environment where you have to fight in every contest just to get noticed.
The great pity in all of this is that the Australian conference hasRead More – Source
