Nonu gamble could pay off for Cooper
OPINION: Colin Cooper knows what he’d be getting.
Ma’a Nonu is more than a rugby player. He’s a personality, a brand, someone who dominates most rooms he walks into.
That can be a very powerful and positive force, but not always, as Cooper is well aware.
This Nonu to the Chiefs story has some legs, apparently. A few weeks back it was rumoured the 36-year-old former All Black was headed for the Blues and a reunion with former Hurricanes team-mate Tana Umaga.
Now Cooper, who coached the pair at the Hurricanes, sounds as if he’s snared the second five-eighth. It’s an intriguing prospect. Now Anton Lienert-Brown might be the man to be 13, to Nonu’s 12, with Damian McKenzie trying to call he shots from first five-eighth.
Nonu’s competitiveness, and certainty that he could turn a game, meant he over-called the odd first-five during his Super Rugby heyday. It’s said that not all of them relished having to hand the ball to him at almost every opportunity. The riddle, of course, being that Nonu was such a fine and selfless All Black.
None of which is news to Cooper, who kind of landed himself in it yesterday when he made hard work of confirming or denying whether Nonu might be a Chief in 2019. Always careful in his public utterances, Cooper’s line of ‘‘I’m not saying yes, I’m not saying no’’ was the rugby equivalent of throwing a chip at hungry seagulls.
Cooper’s eyes are wide open here. The Nonu he knows and, presumably believes he can still get some performances out of, was integral to a Hurricanes side that won 61 per cent of their regular-season games during Cooper’s eight-year tenure, qualifying for three semifinals and a final.
Signing Nonu would be a gamble. But, given Cooper’s history with him, it would be a well-calculated one.