Vodacom Super Rugby
Cooper tweets his anger at ban
2012-07-23 07:49
Sydney - Water boy duties have not helped Reds playmaker Quade
Cooper cool down over his Super Rugby suspension, judging by a tweet
that could land him in more trouble.
Reduced to the support role for the Reds' knockout final against the
Sharks in Brisbane on Saturday, Cooper tweeted this after the match:
''SANZAR - lottery.''
Reds coach Ewen McKenzie refused to cry foul after Cooper-less Reds' title defence ended with a 30-17 loss to the Sharks,
snapping their six-game winning run.
McKenzie had plenty to lament after his final game before handing the
reins to Richard Graham and becoming Reds director of coaching. Not only
had the Reds lost Cooper to a controversial dangerous tackle ban, his
replacement Ben Lucas (ankle) was carried off and hooker Saia Faingaa
suffered a corked biceps by the 22nd minute against the Sharks.
A minute later, the Reds trailed 17-0 and the Sharks went on to book a
semi-final clash with the Stormers, prompting a scathing post-match
analysis from Reds captain Will Genia.
But McKenzie believed the Reds were in good shape as they headed into a
new era. ''There's a lot of things to be positive about,'' he said.
''There's been a lot of talk about the Brumbies having a great season
but, in the end, our team's average age is younger than theirs, so we've
got a lot of football ahead of this group.
''I've been involved for three years, and a lot of the guys have come
into the program, and they've developed as players into Wallabies. It
wasn't a great one [on Saturday night] but we will dust ourselves off
and keep going.''
The Reds have the potential to groom more into Wallabies after Cooper
and team-mates Liam Gill, James Slipper, Rob Simmons, Jake Schatz, Radike
Samo, Ben Tapuai and James Hanson were called up for a national
training camp in Sydney from August 1 to 3. That will result in a 30-man
Wallabies squad for the inaugural Rugby Championship. Genia was rested
along with Digby Ioane.
Durban referee Jonathan Kaplan was booed off the ground but most Reds fans saw red over the TV match official denying Gill a
57th-minute try.