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Make-do duo starting to gel
Wayne Smith | April 04, 2008 Make-do duo starting to gel | The Australian
WARY as he is of mentioning the Quade Cooper-Berrick Barnes combination in the same breath as Dan Carter and Stephen Brett, Reds coach Phil Mooney believes his thrown-together inside backs pairing has the potential to become the Australian equivalent of the brilliant Crusaders duo. Ah there it is, that potentially potent word "Potential".
Queensland's Berrick Barnes is highly regarded by coach Phil Mooney.
Cooper, who will celebrate his 20th birthday by turning out at five-eighth against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein early on Sunday morning (AEST), and inside centre Berrick Barnes, 21, have not even set up base camp at the foot of the peak the Crusaders pair has scaled.
To date they have played eight times over the past two seasons as a 10-12 pairing for a solitary Reds victory, against the Cheetahs last season at Suncorp Stadium. One of those pairings was the horrific 92-3 massacre at the hands of the Bulls last year in Pretoria, with Barnes at five-eighth and Cooper at inside centre.
But by slow degrees, they are starting to harmonise their contrasting talents and the Reds, as a consequence, are beginning to look far more threatening in attack.
"Obviously you have to be wary of comparing them to the Canterbury players, particularly Carter who arguably is the best player in his position in world rugby," Mooney said yesterday. Think Gits deserves some mention here, at the moment his play is IMHO a notch better than Carter's.
"But Quade and Berrick have the potential to head in the same direction in terms of what they give us.
"I think it's significant that New Zealand describes its 10 and 12 as first and second five-eighth whereas we in Australia call them five-eighth and inside centre. Some might say it's just semantics but I think it's a mindset thing.
"Two five-eighths means you have two playmakers, one each side of the ruck if required. It means you have two kickers and it also gives you more width in attack, more threat."
It's a killer stat, one guaranteed to stun most fans, that no Australian side has scored more tries than the Reds this season.
Their tally of 17 is matched by the Brumbies, with the Force having scored 16 and the Waratahs 14. And while it is slightly skewed by the fact that NSW and the ACT both have had the bye already and so played one less game, it still points to a surprising level of attacking prowess in the much-derided Queensland side.
As it is, the Reds by the halfway stage of this year's Super 14 already have scored more tries than they did in their entire 2007 campaign. Since Barnes and Cooper were reunited against the Lions in Johannesburg a fortnight ago they have strung together some of their most impressive attacking passages of recent years.
Barnes already has proven himself on the World Cup stage and the Wallaby selectors are understood to be showing increasing interest in Cooper, and not just because they realise the Waikato-raised youngster might be lost to his native New Zealand if he is not quickly fitted out with a gold jersey.
One of the main beneficiaries of their work has been left winger Peter Hynes, for so long the bit-part actor for the Reds but fast emerging as a pivotal member of the Queensland squad.
Indeed, while most of the contracting dramas in the Reds camp have centred on hooker Stephen Moore's serious flirtations with the Force and Brumbies, captain Sam Cordingley's offer to play in France and Clinton Schifcofske's possible retention at the age of 32, Hynes is squarely in the sights of the QRU's performance rugby manager Ben Whitaker.
"We are extremely keen to retain him," Whitaker said.
"He could even fill the void at fullback after Chris Latham's departure (for Worcester). That's how highly we rate him."
That's an enormous endorsement considering Latham's exalted standing at Ballymore but Hynes, who also is blessed with a prodigious left-footed kick, has the pace and the defensive capabilities to handle a switch to fullback.
Cordingley's future should be resolved within a week with a French club pressing him to give it an answer.
Whitaker is optimistic that the ARU's offer to the 32-year-old halfback, which reflects his growing importance to Australian rugby following the departure of George Gregan, will persuade him to play out the remainder of his career in this country.
I think on this one they should let him go and focus on the younger scrummies around.
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