Just precautionary: Quade Cooper carried from the field in a neck brace
during the trial match against the Rebels on Friday night

by Paul Cook –

The Queensland Reds finished their pre-season trials with a loss to the Rebels at Ballymore on Friday night but while an 18-13 defeat to their conference rivals wasn’t the perfect way to head into the new season next week, the greater concern was over playmaker Quade Cooper, who was stretchered from the field in the closing minutes in a neck brace.

Slow to respond from a hefty – but legal – tackle with the game almost over, he was stretchered off as a precaution but with concerns growing for his welfare, the Reds issued a media release yesterday evening with some positive news.

“Queensland Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper was sent to hospital for precautionary scans last night, following a tackle in the last minute of their pre-season match against the Melbourne Rebels at Ballymore.

“Cooper was kept overnight and had X-rays, which showed no sign of any fractures. He underwent an MRI scan this morning and preliminary results indicate there is no serious damage. Reds’ medical staff expect to know the full results of the scan on Monday morning.

“While a little stiff and sore from the collision, Cooper is out of hospital and mobile. A further update on Cooper’s status will be made as soon as the full results of the MRI scan are known.”

Still Upbeat: Will Genia still took some positives from the 18-13 loss

Cooper’s departure was the culmination of a disappointing evening for the Reds with flanker Ed Quirk also leaving the field with a shoulder injury and the team failing to fire only one week out from their first game of the new season against the Brumbies in Canberra. Quirk’s injury is not expected to be a major concern.

After seeing a lot of positives in last week’s defeat of reigning champions, the Chiefs, head coach Richard Graham was frustrated with his side’s efforts against an impressive Rebels outfit. “It was disappointing. Once we got to a 13-0 lead we fell away,” said Graham. “I thought the first 25 minutes, we delivered a lot of the things we set out to do. Once we came back and dropped the kick off, we went through a period where we were quite flat in attack and defence. There’s a lot of things to work on.”

However, vice-captain Will Genia, scorer of the Reds opener after an opportune kick ahead from Liam Gill, remained upbeat. “We got what we wanted from it, it was a good hit out and it prepares us well for the Brumbies,” Genia said. “The promising thing is we understood the purpose of the game. We wanted to push our skills, we wanted to execute under pressure. We can take positives out of it and we can be hard on ourselves and build on it.”

The Reds’ regular season starts February 22, with clashes on the road to the Brumbies and the Waratahs, before their first match at Suncorp Stadium against the Cheetahs on Friday 7 March.