Rugby: The No.10 battle

Quade Cooper and Daniel Carter. Photos / Getty Images

We compare the two No. 10s that will face off in the Super 15 final.

QUADE COOPER
Age: 23
Test caps: 24

Try to picture what the landscape could have looked like if Cooper had not defected to the West Island a few years back.

It would have felt like we were having our odometers wound back a decade to the salad days of the Mehrtens-Spencer for All Black first five-eighths debate.

No prizes for guessing which of those protagonists Cooper most apes. His kicking is a bit flaky and he is prone to the odd gaffe, but when the muse strikes he can be near impossible to contain.

Stop Cooper and you go a long way to stopping the Reds, though the talent of Will Genia, Digby Ioane and Rod Davies means you can't afford to ignore the rest. It's up to the pack to give him front-foot ball. If they can, look out.

DANIEL CARTER
Age: 29
Test caps: 79

You could make a case that Daniel Carter version 2011 has yet to enjoy one of those stand-out performances that you store away in the memory banks.

You could make a case that his reluctance to take the line on himself is an indicator that his free-running days are numbered. You could even make a case that his goalkicking reliability is in for a Standard & Poor's-like downgrade. All those arguments might get a little traction.

Try, however, making a case that Todd Blackadder and Graham Henry would rather have anyone else, even Cooper, guiding their teams around the track and you will find yourself on the losing end of a debate.

Carter has an innate feel for the game that lets him make the right decisions 95 per cent of the time.