FOR NEW Zealand rugby obsessives these are days of rich pickings. First and foremost there is the ongoing fear of choking on home soil and 60 minutes of Argentina did not help. Then there is the concern for their captain’s foot, where there is a diagnosis ranging from chronic to a niggle as the Richie McCaw situation demands.

And then, in no particular order, come an apparent All Black drink culture, headlines alleging Cory Jane and Israel Dagg had been caught wobbly-legged in an Auckland bar, and Quade Cooper.

Amid all the gloom Cooper was the subject of good news for Kiwis if only because he had something approaching a shocker against South Africa, a week before Australia play the All Blacks in the World Cup semi-finals. His coach, Robbie Deans – who accepted Australia’s offer of a job four years ago after New Zealand decided to stick with Graham Henry rather than go with the most successful coach in Super Rugby – came close to admitting as much after the game in which Australia had their backs to the wall for so much of the match it was rarely possible to contemplate the win that pits Deans and Cooper, two New Zealanders, against the country of their birth at Eden Park on Sunday.

“He’d probably concede that,” said Deans when asked about his outhalf’s flaky performance. “But this whole group will be better for the experience.”

Cooper was not around after the match to answer for himself. The 23-year-old was said to be indisposed due to medical matters. More likely he did not fancy answering questions from New Zealand reporters who have made an art form of delving in to his and his family’s history when they lived in the North Island wood town of Tokoroa – a place he left as a nine-year-old.

The most recent revelations came from a primary school teacher, Robyn Wilson, who said Cooper was always fussy about his looks. “Quade was always concerned with his hair. He didn’t like his curls, so he would wet his hair to flatten it out.” Another teacher, Denise Hein, said Cooper was “always little, a bit cheeky and super-active”, so it is perhaps understandable he was reluctant about further questioning.

Berrick Barnes, who finished alongside Cooper, was more than willing to speak about his partner. Asked if Cooper could be flaky, Barnes said: “He’ll be confident going into the weekend even if all New Zealand is against him.”

Some thought it was logical that Barnes should help out with Cooper’s kicking difficulties. Not so, said the NSW Waratah, who replaced Pat McCabe. “All those Reds boys are on the crest of a wave and they know how to win games,” he said, referring to the recent Super Rugby title for Queensland. “He’s stepped up this year with Reds. He’s won a Tri-Nations, a Super Rugby and on all those occasions he’s kicked crucial goals, too.”

Reassuring stuff from a 25-year-old many think might make a better outhalf but Barnes was adamant about his role: “I came on to play 12 after McCabe did his shoulder. I found it tough to get into the game because the Boks had that much possession; wave after wave coming at you. How we survived I don’t know.”

How Cooper survives this week is another matter. Everywhere he has played in this tournament he has been booed by Kiwis annoyed at what they see have been some cheap shots landed by the boy from Tokoroa on their captain McCaw. Guardian Service