Will Genia believes Quade Cooper is a better person after learning from mistakes on and off field
WILL Genia believes Quade Cooper is a better person for his off-field mistakes and backs his good mate to perform in Christchurch.
QUADE Cooper's new maturity will be put under the blowtorch on Saturday night in a Christchurch snakepit where nemesis Richie McCaw is waiting to terrorise him.
The ramifications are immense, not just for Queensland Reds in the play-offs but for Wallabies fans wondering whether they should again buy into Cooper as a potential saviour.
The sudden-death playoff against the Crusaders is magnetic. Playmaker Cooper and sidekick Will Genia orchestrating an upset would fire a shot across the bows of the Kiwis that will reverberate all the way until kick-off to the Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney on August 17.
But if they lose with a hotchpotch of Cooper errors against the masters of finals pressure, the dawn of the Ewen McKenzie era as Test coach next month will seem a little less radiant.
At least seven players from each camp are likely to be playing for the Bledisloe Cup next month, so this is as close to a Test examination as Cooper is going to get.
Halfback Genia is convinced Cooper has found a tougher, more resilient core to stand tall on his biggest stage since the 22-0 Test wipe-out against the All Blacks in Auckland 11 months ago.
The backlash from last year's clumsy swipe at "toxic" elements of the Wallabies setup rattled Cooper but it has ultimately made him a wiser, more resilient footballer.
"Quadie learnt from it, he absorbed it and he's better for it," Genia said.
"He's a good guy and tough, tougher than people give him credit for.
"Maturity is the word. That's the thing that has really impressed me. All the boys who love playing with him know he puts the team first."
The flip side opinion comes from former All Blacks winger Jeff Wilson, who pilloried Cooper as a flaky target who "doesn't play well in New Zealand."
"The pressure is on Cooper and Richie McCaw is there (on the bench) to terrorise him," Wilson said on Fox Sport's rugby show, Rugby HQ.
McCaw coming off the bench to rattle Cooper is a sizeable shadow when it comes in a 116-Test package of tackling, pilfering and obstructing skill.
Coach McKenzie said how the crowd and McCaw factors might affect Cooper had been overblown.
"We've played in Dunedin and Hamilton this year and the crowds literally didn't say boo to Quade," McKenzie said.
"A lot is being made of the McCaw thing. Quade will be fully engrossed in putting pressure on to take the Crusaders out of their confidence zone, not emotional rivalries or whatnot."
With no Digby Ioane or Rod Davies to run off his shoulder, Cooper cannot be left isolated. Wingers Dom Shipperley and Chris Feauai-Sautia must roam as passing targets all night.