As they say, when you win, the maverick is an eccentric genius; lose and he's a nut. 

Nutty Quade Cooper is deservedly getting a smack around the chops for his World Cup form but, let's face it, you could have put a fit Dan Carter in that Wallaby semi-final lineup and the sublime All Blacks would have still belted them. 

(Although I guess the first kickoff might not have gone into touch on the full). 

The Kiwis were devastating. Quick, smart, precise. They didn't let Australia into the game and had the upper hand in every facet of play. 

That first 20 minutes was breathtaking. The speed was awesome and Australia had no counter. 

Criticism of Australia's lame attack is justified -- especially when taken over the whole of the tournament -- but in the semi, they got smashed and torched and simply weren't in a position to do much of anything positive. 

Against a less inventive side like the Springboks, courage, slog and luck might allow you to get a break, but not against the All Blacks. 

Pointing the finger at Cooper, however, is not going to make the already very good Australian rugby side any better. The same flaws that have been ‘almost ignorable' for some time, reared their ugly heads under pressure and they are the culprits. 

Lack of assertiveness and power in close -- the scrum, the maul, the pick and drive -- is the bugbear of Australian rugby. These Wallabies hit it up, they go nowhere. Broaching the advantage line is usually from an inside pass, a sleight of hand, a step ... but not muscle. 

Until that's rectified, Australia won't be be able to put themselves in a position to do what they do best which is run the footy. 

Put the word out, Australia needs more nasty, abrasive people. 

There is an also a wave of dissatisfication, given his record, with the New Zealand-born and -bred coach Robert Deans. But most of it seems hollow, taken in context. The poor bastard had to reinvent an Australian squad that was tumbling into (southern hemisphere) irrelevance a few years ago. 

He has successfully brought through the ‘next' generation -- prats such as James O'Connor are fully realising their potential and there has been an improvement in the set piece, albeit, with blokes who still get monstered sometimes. 

It's a tribute to Deans and Australian rugby that going into the semi, the All Blacks knew, as did the Springboks in the quarters, the key to beating Australia was to stop them from playing. There are a few ways to do that -- the great thing about the All Blacks is they took the honorable route and simply overwhelmed the Wallabies. 

Which brings us back to Cooper. 

The haters will say Aussie Quade should have adapted: should have been the stoic general around the field, making bits and pieces work for his team. But that's not how he works, and that's not how the unofficial contract between the Wallabies and Cooper and, indeed the Reds and Cooper works. 

It's his game -- if the team doesn't buy into it, then it's a bust. Win or lose. I've got to say I like that near-stupidity. The Wallabies have always played rugby union with flair, sometimes because of the inability to compete in the really mundane stuff. 

Ideally for the next few years Dingo Deans will be able to continue to embrace that irreverence while at the same time supervising Australia's growth as a go-forward side in tight contact. 

A big potential tragedy, as it's always been in Australian rugby, is the possible loss of a few key players to rugby league. The most likely candidates in coming years are Kurtley Beale and Cooper. 

Word is, and it's shady, I admit, Cooper will go in a package with NZ reserve Sonny Bill Williams to league. They want to play together and the biggest beneficiary will be the Kiwi national league side (that's assuming Cooper makes the team). 

I hope that doesn't happen. Cooper is a wonderful rugby player and he is forging a legend, despite the hiccup in this World Cup. 

Meanwhile the blokes doing the real work in Sonny Bill's team will face the lunatic French this weekend. Little good can come of this, I suspect. The Frogs are all jumpy and silly about their coach who, admittedly, comes across as a bit of a duffer. 

New Zealand should and will win this by 15. The French of course, have oodles of talent and the capacity to shock. They are, at best, a good contrary bet but if NZ plays southern hemisphere football, they will be whipped and the world will be a better place for it.