Bulls 30
There couldn't be a starker comparison than that between Quade Cooper and Morne Steyn.
The latter is all convention, a deep-lying first five-eighth looking to control the game with his boot; who seldom takes the line on; but is so solid positionally and tactically that he is almost the perfect
foil for his big Bulls forward pack. Cooper, on the other hand, almost defies description.
He might do what you think he's going to do. But he seldom does. He likes the unexpected, does Cooper, and he is a gyrating, dancing, diving, ducking ball of energy who strikes terror into defences.
Defending is an exact science, you see. Defensive plays are choreographed; landscaped precisely. They are formed on the percentages of what rugby players are likely to do in a given situation. They work on reducing the options of the attacker.
Cooper rejects all this convention like some sort of crazed hippy rugby rebel. Defenders tend to hang off him; a reflex action to see what this improbable force will do next. It seems he often doesn't know himself. It gets him into trouble sometimes and makes him a player who can lose a game as well as win it. But, man, he's fun to watch.
He scored the first try of the night with a typical Cooper fake-out. It looked as though there was nowhere for him to go.
He hesitated, propped, he waggled the ball one way, his neck went the other and Cooper's body wriggled through the large hole that magically appeared as the Bulls defenders regarded this Quade thing quizzically.
He made the second try too - a run of speed, sinuous intent and skill, embarrassing Morne Steyn among others as he stepped, pranced, goose-stepped and just plain floated past tacklers.
From that advance, the Reds sent the ball wide, hooker Saia Faingaa took the ball on his knees and flung a wonderful scoring pass to charging loose forward Radike Samo.
In between, Cooper produced an outrageous behind-the-back pass under pressure on his own goal line, allowing a safe clearance as the bemused Bulls regarded him rather as a bull views a matador - an irritating, poncing figure whom they would dearly like to gore and ... what's that pain between the shoulder blades?
At 17-6, the Reds were beginning to look like the powerful and speedy Queensland sides of yesteryear before getting a brutal reminder of the ruthlessness of modern rugby and how attention cannot wander for even a micro-second.
Three forwards stood like statues as the kick-off curled towards them - only to be left red-faced as well as red-jerseyed as Bulls winger Bjorn Basson climbed high, plucked the ball out of the air and strolled over for a truly embarrassing try.
That gave the Bulls a 17-13 margin they had no right to expect - but it did show that these Reds aren't yet the Big Banana.
Quick, give it to Quade. His long, cut-out pass to Luke Morahan put the fullback through a gap as the Bulls' sorely tested defence and, just to show the meaning of the word mercurial, Cooper missed the kick.
Steyn's skills are just as deadly as Cooper's - only different. He kept ripping off chunks of territory with his boot as well as testing up-and-unders. A long-range Steyn penalty brought matters back to 22-16 and suddenly ... the Bulls were running.
They began to grab more possession and territory and their defence snapped back into clinical mode. Cooper, as many mercurials do, faded a little in the third 20 minutes as play went from the creative to the merely effective.
Fade? Did we say fade? Coach Ewen McKenzie worked his subs well and one of them, the pacy Ben Lucas, ran Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner down in his own in-goal; an illustration of the value of fresh legs (and speed to burn).
From the scrum, who else but Cooper? Halfback Will Genia worked a perfect double-round-decoy move and Cooper's precise pass to Genia saw him put Morahan over again. The Bulls mounted a useful raid on the left touch - but passed to replacement lock Adam Wallace-Harrison.
About 80 metres out, he kicked. Perfectly. The ball hugged the touchline, blazing winger Digby Ioane (the only Red in sight) kicked ahead and outpaced Steyn and No8 Pierre Spies to score. Oh, and Cooper missed the kick.
Danie Rossouw crashed over for a try with 12 minutes to go - and the matadors still couldn't quite deliver the killing blow. Cooper's missed kicks kept the Bulls alive but darts from Will Chambers and Genia saw them set up a forward roll at the line. Lock and skipper James Horwill scored from the ruck, deciding matters.
The Bulls season is now a great deal more difficult - but at least they won't have to face super-duper Cooper again.
Reds 39 (Q. Cooper, R. Samo, L. Morahan 2, D. Ioane, J. Horwill tries; Cooper 3 cons, pen), Bulls 30 (B. Basson 2, D. Rossouw tries, M. Steyn 3 cons, 3 pens). Halftime: 17-13.
