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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cian Healy's hit on Quade Cooper in Auckland

Eden Park on Saturday was the scene of the biggest shake up of this year's World Cup as Ireland famously beat Australia 15-6, elevating them into group winner hopefuls, and affecting other teams as a result. Prop Cian Healy was immense on the night, so here's another look at a moment that many of you wanted to watch over again.

Healy picked up the Man of the Match award for his contribution around the park, and particularly, in the scrum. He dominated Wallaby Ben Alexander to the point of the Australian prop having since said it was the worst night of his sporting life. Healy on the other hand, was delighted.

"It felt good to dominate the Australia scrum. It's always nice to get on the front foot and load the pressure on. I'm pretty happy about that. I'm really chuffed to have been named man of the match. I didn't expect that. We'd been working hard at scrummaging and we knew it was coming.

"I wanted us to be dominant there because I know how hard it is for backs to play if they don't have that platform to work off. We'd done a fair bit of research into their scrum and everything had gone according to plan. It was enjoyable. It was a good pack performance. We clicked well," he said.

The Wallaby halfback pairing of Will Genia and Quade Cooper failed to spark their talented backs. Cooper, considered by some to be the most talented flyhalf in world rugby, has come under fire from former world cup winner David Campese, who says that the Reds star doesnt seem to understand the position.

"Quade Cooper, I don't know. I don't know what he's doing - every time he got (the ball) the crowd booed him. These flick passes, they work for Sonny Bill Williams, but it doesn't work for certain people," he said.

"Under pressure, you want people in positions that can control the game and be smart about it. These guys weren't smart at all. People have got to realise that I was a winger, so I was the last man on the line to try things. He's a playmaker so he's getting the ball all the time.

"I don't think he understands the position sometimes, he thinks he can do a lot of things and he's got to realise a number 10 normally is the big go-to man. When you're under pressure you get the ball and kick it down touch like Dan Carter does. On the weekend I was watching and Cooper got the ball and just wanted to try everything himself.

"You can't win a World Cup if you play like individuals, you've got to play as a team. Unfortunately the Wallabies on Saturday didn't look like a team," Campese said.

As if the night wasn't bad enough for the Wallabies and Cooper, Cian Healy smashed him.

Posted at 7:12 pm | 32 comments