Rugby: Freakish Quade hobbles Blues

Jared Payne takes on the Reds defence. Photo / Getty Images

Reds 30 Blues 13

The cruel and captivating reality of professional sport is that it is often decided by freak occurrences - but that's what makes it worth watching. It decides who can survive under pressure and who can't.

It may seem a little odd describing brilliant first five-eighths Quade Cooper as a freak occurrence, but he is.

With Cooper in full freakish mode, the Reds deservedly overcame the Blues last night in Brisbane. Under coach Ewen McKenzie, the Reds are now worthy of a chance to break their drought and win a first Super 15 title.

Halfback Will Genia spoke during the week of a "back yourself, don't hesitate, just play" philosophy and his team-mates enacted it. They beat the Blues 37-31 at the same venue in round 13 which started the visitors' run of four losses.

The result was not as emphatic this time - they didn't put on 24 points in the first half an hour - but the Reds seized crucial opportunities when they arose and followed it by wearing the Blues down late in the second half.

Leveraging a sound defensive effort and utilising the brilliance of Cooper, the Reds ran good forward lines, getting enough quality ball from the limited number of set pieces and the breakdown to create the space for Cooper to initiate strikes and hobble the Blues.

They let themselves down only briefly by allowing makeshift lock Chris Lowrey to run through their 22 with seconds remaining on the clock in the first half.

The Blues had their fair share of possession. The first quarter was largely an even contest but the Reds' defence proved more structured compared to the Blues' scramble.

Their lungs would have been burning after having to work hard to beat the Waratahs last week. It forced the Blues to tone down their attack and build phases - but their efforts were too staccato; going sideways rather than forward into a disciplined Reds defensive line.

The Blues also gave away too many penalties holding the ball in the tackle. A crucial call of obstruction was also ruled by referee Jonathan Kaplan against captain Keven Mealamu as John Afoa surged to within centimetres of the Reds tryline.

It was hard to go past Cooper as the architect behind the Reds victory. His opposite Stephen Brett had a solid game, particularly on defence, but missed touch and kicked out on the full on crucial occasions; errors still stain his game.

Cooper's elusiveness and poise was extraordinary and the All Blacks coaches will have made plenty of notes with a World Cup just over two months away.

Cooper has the reliable hands of a bone china delivery man, allowing him to thread passes accurately over long distances. He combines it with footwork to rival Michael Jackson in his moonwalker phase.

Such instinctive movements are hard to plan against as the Blues found out when Cooper alone set up the try for second-five Ben Tapuai. Seldom was he caught going down any dark alleys into the heart of the Blues defence and he was integrally involved in three of the four Reds tries (three of them scored by rocket right winger Rod Davies).

Every time Cooper touched the ball there was an eruption of cardinal red in the stands as most of the 45,000 punters rose from their seats.

Cooper skills blend flawlessly with Genia who has a more bustling approach - he's hard to pin down in the tackle as he darts and weaves around the breakdown and always seems to have plenty of time to distribute clean ball.

One of Cooper's long passes found right winger Rod Davies early in the second half to put him into a gap against a rushing Blues defence to create a 20-10 lead.

Davies had also seized an intercept when Lachie Munro floated a long ball to Luke Braid heading into the Reds 22 in the 12th minute. The ball went straight into his hands and he was gone.

He completed his hat-trick when Jared Payne performed that horrible thing - a defensive chip-kick deep in his own territory. It floated straight to Digby Ioane from inside Payne's own 22. It was a telling error from a player who has had a fine season.

The Reds stretched the Blues defence to its extremes again from there. Payne also blew a slim comeback chance for the Blues in the 70th minute - dropping the ball with an open line in sight after good work by replacement winger Rene Ranger.

Cooper's one failure came on the kicking front, missing two penalties and two conversions with his distinctive just-had-a-bucket-of-water-thrown-on-him pose. He made up for it with a drop goal to put the result beyond doubt.

However, he could have put the Reds out by 10 further points and made the result more emphatic after they flexed their possession and territory muscle for most of the second half. Even with 23 minutes to go, the lead was only 20-13.

Any concerns about the turf re-laid last week as a result of the Queensland floods were unfounded. There were few scrums and the grass (and blended artificial mesh) stood up well to the hits between 1.7 tonnes plus of human flesh.

Reds 30 (R.Davies 3, B. Tapuai tries, Q. Cooper 2 con, pen, drop goal), Blues 13 (C. Lowrey try, S. Brett con, L.McAlister 2 pen). halftime: 15-7.