Quade Cooper: Pressure on all blacks.

Got this interview of the Orange website. It seems the Tasmin Sea Cold War is hotting up.

"Australia's maverick fly-half Quade Cooper has cranked up the pressure on the All Blacks ahead of Sunday's semi-final. Cooper, who was born in New Zealand, has been subjected to a barrage of terrace abuse throughout Australia's campaign due to a long-running spat with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.

However, the 23-year-old insists the barracking has not been a distraction and said pointedly that New Zealand fans have greater things to worry about. The All Blacks have not lifted the Webb Ellis trophy since 1987 and have failed to reach the World Cup final at every tournament since 1995.

And Cooper agreed it would be "a tough one for them to swallow" if he was to inflict further World Cup misery by scoring the winning points at Eden Park this weekend. They are supposed to have won this World Cup for the past three tournaments and this is no different, Cooper said. A lot of pressure is on them to win this competition on home soil so I am sure they will be worried about how they are going. These are the moments you play rugby for, an opportunity to play against the best team in the world in their back yard in a World Cup semi-final.

Rocky Elsom, the former Leinster flanker, waded in behind Cooper to drive home the Wallabies' message that all the pressure is on All Black shoulders. They're the number one-ranked team in the world and they're in a country where they expect them to win the World Cup. Regardless of what happens the public expect that, Elsom said. You get a feeling around town that they won't tolerate anything less.

Wallabies centre Anthony Fainga'a fired a warning to any All Blacks who believe they can target Cooper.

"I can tell you this," he said. "He never has two bad games in a row. Ever."

Metal Tiger wrote:"I can tell you this," he said. "He never has two bad games in a row. Ever."

I read that and thought what a strange thing to say. Cooper hasn't played well this World Cup. Does he ever have two good games in a row?

Thats a good one.
Coopers sating we must be worried about how were playing.
We havnt won by less than 20 and oz lost one and were the luckiest team on earth last week.
Cooper himself playng a match you would not normally get reselected after.
The guys a clown

From the AB website:
"The Wallabies have spent the week talking themselves up and using every opportunity to turn pressure back on the All Blacks, while others believed that the Australians win at Suncorp Stadium showed they had the recent wood on their trans-Tasman rivals.

Kaino however felt the 25-20 loss was a powerful tonic heading into this semi-final.

"The loss to the Wallabies was hugely motivating,” he said.

"We're looking forward to seeing them again," he grinned, although there was little humour behind the blindside's determined eyes.

...love it...