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Quade Cooper is a brilliant talent.He is one of the best out-halves in the world right now.He has great offloading skills and he is blossoming into one of the best players in the game.He is full of flair and is the most exciting player in rugby in the Southern hemisphere.

Exciting maybe, but not without frailties.

He sits quite deep and uses the pace of the backs to look for gaps. A well organised defence should be able to clean him up. The Welsh did not have a well organised defence at the weekend, and through the tri nations, Australia actually struggled - 2 wins.

He is helped by Genia at 9 who provides super quick ball which brings the best out of him; but most of the good work comes from broken play. Two of their tries against Wales came from turnovers. But with slower ball, and a bit of pressure, he has a tendency to 'try' too hard.

Defensively he is mildly better than Cipriani - which is like saying Tindall is mildly quicker than evolution.

He gets great protection from Pocock, but can be run over quite easily if singled out. I would definitely look to target the 10 channel with Easter and Croft.

This backline is fairly awesome, and they have already amassed a decent amount of caps - Cooper, O'Connor and Genia have similar amounts of caps to their ages. So whilst Johnson was mincing around with Monye at 15, Sackey, a non try scoring Cueto, Noon, Arinle and Goode before stumbling across the likes of Foden and Ashton - the Aussies were blooding their youngsters who can now add experience to youth.

But they are not infallible.

"Licence"

Yes Cooper is good, but I don't think you can even put him and Lomu in the same sentence. He is frail on defense, notice the All Blacks targeted him as a weak spot all season long. He is mercurial too, he is brilliant when in the zone, but when he isn't he self-destructs.

Right now I feel that Dan Carter is a mile and half ahead of any other world number 10 right now, I feel that recent times have proven that. Carter missed a load of time off after ankle surgery yet can come straight back to test level without any previous game time and outplay his opposition for 60 minutes, controlling the game in the palm of his hand. NO need for talk of a rugby changing fly half when he has yet to outplay the best.

After being in Brisbane for 5 years now and watching every Reds home game, the 9/10 pairing of Genia and Cooper COULD go onto being similar to Gregan/Larkham and just playing together for years to create the platform for an all conquering Aussie backline. His skills are outrageous at times, you only have to see the amazing 20m falling flick pass against the Highlanders in the S14 to realise the talent this guy has but he to consistently outplay Carter to be called the best.

Yes, the quick ball by Genia helps but my son played against Cooper at school level where he was outrageous then and won the GPS final single-handedly. A certain Mr Pocock was playing with him at inside centre so I can understand where the defensive minder tag comes from, or as they got called by other schools, Beauty and the Beast for how Cooper and Pocock played as a pairing.

On an aside, you mention the youth in the Australia backline currently, you're forgetting Pat McCabe, rookie of the year this year and a fantastic prospect for potentially the Matt Giteau role in the future along with Barnes.

Final 2 points, why does Elsom now play half as well for either Australia or the Brumbies as he did for Leinster? Also, has anyone every got to 25 caps at a younger age than James O'Connor, thats an amazing number of caps for someone so young.

I remember the first time I saw Quade play I said he would be the best player in the world. I agree that he is not there yet but he has all the attributes to do so. I also believe that the development of the Wallabies by Deans can stand as an example to other teams across the word. That is, to encourage youth development and to play to your strengths.

It was evident after some key retirements that there was going to be a changing of the guard of sorts. Indeed, Deans used this opportunity, not to bring in older established players into the line-up, but to bring new fresh faces to the game of rugby.

By doing this he managed to create a team with their own identity, that being fast paced attacking rugby, and also establish a team that didn’t have the fear and sustained defeatist attitude against the All-Blacks. Indeed, the Wallaby team truly believes they can beat the All-Blacks, how many teams in world rugby can honestly say that.

While I would gladly run out of superlatives to describe the abilities of Quade, O’Connor, Beale, Pocock, Genia and the rest of the entourage, I think some of those superlatives should be directed Deans’ way for creating this team and encouraging them to play in this fashion.

But also, Quade is a jet…

Of course this approach is not always sufficient to counteract deficiences elsewhere, and Australia can expect another, greater, examination of their forward fundamentals on Saturday, as my colleague Tom Fordyce discusses in his blog.
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You honestly think that the English pack will dominate the Aussie pack more than the Welsh did? You English lot are so deluded it's unbelievable..............

Haha, better backline then the All Blacks. Nice one Bryan.
Australia beat them in 1 of 11 games and then they're the next big thing.
Quade is a marvel on attack but was made to pay against the All Blacks.
If it wasn't for him they'd have won it by more.
He reminds me of Carlos Spencer. On his day absolutely spectacular but far too up and down to be relied upon.

Of course this approach is not always sufficient to counteract deficiences elsewhere, and Australia can expect another, greater, examination of their forward fundamentals on Saturday, as my colleague Tom Fordyce discusses in his blog.
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You honestly think that the English pack will dominate the Aussie pack more than the Welsh did? You English lot are so deluded it's unbelievable..............
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I am English living in Aus, and I completely agree with Ruud, you've got Sheridan who yes is very good but hasn't played half the number of games he should have for his talent. Dan Cole who admittedly is very good and could be a vital player for us in the next 10 years, and Hartley who is yet to put in a consistent run of games in for England.

Compare that to Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Adam Jones. An All-Lions front row and 3 players with a combined 172 Wales caps. Wales arguably could have had 2 penalty tries last Saturday like England did over in June. Wayne Barnes didn't give them and Nigel Owens did, that was the difference.

I'm sure Wilkinson would be able to sort him out in a tackle.

I was an avid Sale fan, and thought Jason Robinson utterly brilliant. Cooper is the only one who comes close to him.
I now live in Brisbane, and am a regular at the Reds, and to see Cooper and Genia in action week in week out restores my faith in rugby at its best.
And I agree with the comment that Deans needs much credit for having faith in the brat pack.
If they don't do well in RWC11, just watch out for RWC15 !!

There is a certain mythology surrounding the view that Australia has a weak scrum. Ask players from opposing teams (rather than commentators) and you get a different story. Last time the Wallabies played in England the scrum went quite well. This time, the entire front row is returning from bone fractures, so are going to be out of touch for a while. But, a good myth is always worth twice as much as facts to some.

It's funny how myopic the English can be.
One thing to point out is that there's actually more to a forward pack than a scrum. The Australian forward pack is amongst the best in the world when it comes to their defence, their line-out, their ball retention, their ball carrying ability, their counter rucking and they have probably the second best backrow in world rugby (behind NZ).
England's pack in contrast has a great scrum, but the line-out is not great, their ball carrying is predictable and lacks offloading skills and handling, their defence is only good when their defence is on the front foot (get them moving and running and a quality backline will cut them to pieces), their ball retention is ok but not incredible, their counter-rucking isn't anything special and their back row is merely functionary, no great threat.

In regards specifically to the scrum, England holds the edge currently, however, the difference in qulaity is not as great as some make out.

Last year at Twickenham, Australia dominated England's scrum (They did the same thing to Wales last year, absolutley towelled the Welsh scrum).

The Australian front row can scrum, though they have not done well the last two games.
It is obvious why if you watch those two games. Firstly, and most importantly, they have not adjusted to the refs engagement calls in either of those games. Against NZ they kept engaging early (Rolland's incredibly slow call) and in Wales they kept engagin late (Barnes' much, much quicker engagment call).
They simply let the other team win the engagment.
The other big thing in Wales was the hooker. Faingaa is great in the loose but in the scrum he is not strong. Moore is a much tougher proposition and will make it much harder for England to isolate the tight head, which is what Wales did to such great effect.

I still expect England to have the edge in the scrum, but some perspective and legitimate analysis would nice.

Oh, In regards to Elsom, the Brumbies and Wallabies play a running game at a high pace, and not the same type of attritional, field position game that's common in European club rugby.
It's a different style that Eslom has to play now. Less emphasis on big hits and breaking tackles, more on linking play, running the ball, getting thru more work and cover defence.

As an Englishman living in Sydney I get to see Super 15 and good coverage of the sport.

The gem who seems overlooked so far in this article and responses is Beale.

I think he is an incredible player. Like Quade he is fearless and unorthodox, the traits defenders hate the most. He is also blessed with speed of thought and creativity of the best no.10s.

He may not have the directness of someone like Cullen, but I believe he is fantastic prospect, even if he has a dodgy 'tash.

Great, hyperbole-free analysis Jono. Pity you aren't commentating instead of some of the people getting paid for it.
As far as the team tomorrow, I would have liked Humphries and Higginbotham in for McCalman and Chisholm. Finally, I just hope the front row have recovered enough grunt to neutralise England and quiten down the sarcasm from some quarters. The scrum still matters.

"true Aussie larrikin figure"

apart from the fact he was born in NZ and lived there till 2000 and is a New Zealand Moari (and has the accent to match).

# 7. Simply Ruud.

Ahahaha! Did you not think Bryn may be Welsh?

You should say that chip on your shoulder for sunday dinner.

Hi Bryn

I too have noticed in this and some of your previous blogs that lots of non-English people assume you're English; this is testimony to the generalised (and ignorant) assumption that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is actually the EBC, and to your admirably neutral journalistic style - for a Welshman anyway ;-)

Good blog. A number of posters seem not to have realised there is a separate one on the "front row issue". Personally I am delighted that a media oreganisation as mainstream as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is finally taking notice of Cooper. The guy is just dynamite. Yes we can compare him to Campese, but also, I'd say, to Sivivatu, Jason Robinson and Shane Williams - all wingers. That he plays fly-half is proof that he has the same attributes of all those players, but a little more too.

Can't wait for the game tomorrow. As an Englishman I'm hoping for an England win, but only if we play rugby, not just intimidation in the scrum.
Also really loking forward to seeing O'Connor in action again, as wll as Cooper.

Quade Cooper is, quite simply, a genius.
With his talent, and the rest of the young Aussie squad to back him up, the Wallabies will take next year's World Cup. Mark my words. And that's a tough thing to have to say coming from a South African.

Cooper is fantastic with ball in hand, no doutb.
But is mentally fragile.
All he needs is a few early hits and his game folds.
Defences seem to stand off him: send a flaker (Moody) after him all game off set pieces, a la June 2010, and he simply isnt the same player.

Was lucky enough to watch Cooper for a couple of years when living in Brisbane - in the first year he was pretty much the only reason for watching the Reds; after that it was great to watch him and Genia develop together.

All that skill AND he's dating Stephanie Rice! Lucky boy.

Bryn,
I think the reason that nobody is posting on Tom's blog is because it is a load of one-eyed, cliche-ridden drivel. This is a good blog, more ´óÏó´«Ã½ than EBC, and quite objective. I think England will win on Saturday; Wales should have made that scrum dominance pay, and might well have done if the hapless Wayne Barnes wasn't blighted by the inability to see what the rest of the watching world can, and got a card out of his pocket. The number of scrum resets and the ridiculously long scrum times could have been avoided with better refereeing. As Mr Barnes won't be officiating Saturday, I think it likely that Australia will concede a penalty try or be down to 14 men for at least 10 minutes because England will target the scrum. It then hinges on how well England contain the Aussie backs...

aledgog

So I take it you're confident that Moore won't make any difference at all.

He might well do...but the scrum isn't the Aussie forte, and you can bet that Martin Johnson will target it. At the same time, I'm sure the Aussies are expecting that, and played great rugby without that platform. If the Aussie scrum holds up, then their forwards greater mobility, and their superior backs will win the day comfortably. But I think it will be a tight, tense affair that will favour England.

I agree with a lot that has been said so far: Robbie Deans has created a fantastic attacking back line, and the pack (scrum aside) is a very dynamic force. This is a great team to watch in action. What nobody has focussed on, though, is the lack of a totally reliable goalkicker. Yes, Beale and O'Connor have landed magnificent pressure kicks in recent games, but there is no Paterson, Jenkins or Wilkinson, who strokes them over with metronomic consistency. Given the number of games that (sadly) are determined by the outcome of the goal-kicking contest, this is the biggest gap that Deans has to fill before RWC 2011.

Quade Cooper the modern day Carlos Spencer. Jury is still out whether his temperament can win the World Cup for Australia. Spencer went missing at the very big moments but what a great player.

It was a good game by looking at the scoreboard - but it was rather infuriating for most of the second Half:

The ref didn't allow scrums to develop - free kicks were blown immediately

We failed to score at four attempts on the Australian try line, and then kicked a penalty under the posts with 5 minutes left & a 14 point lead.

We were sloppy at restarts - neither of Australia's trys should have happened

Nevertheless it was a great peformance - especially the wings, youngs and croft

Quade who was he there last Saturday.