Cooper caps incredible comeback, kicking Wallabies to dramatic win
Quade Cooper has capped an incredible Wallabies return, kicking a match-winning penalty after the siren to beat the Springboks 28-26 in his first Test for more than four years. A shock call-up to face the world champions, Cooper kicked a perfect seven-from-seven penalties and a conversion as the hosts won a scrum penalty in the final 20 seconds.
That set up a potential match-winner from 40 metres out and twelve metres from touch that the maligned playmaker, now playing second-tier rugby in Japan, calmly slotted. Cooper, 33, said that after previously kicking one from a similar spot he knew he had the distance.
“I looked at it and had a little chat to myself and said ‘is this your ego saying you want to take the kick or is it what’s in the benefit of the team’,” Cooper told Stan Sport. “I had a little chat to Hodgey (Reece Hodge) as well and he backed me, so you know your peers are backing you, you got to back yourself as well.”
Cooper was understated in his Wallabies comeback in the Rugby Championship clash on the Gold Coast, reeling in his long passing game but still providing good service to his outside men in a poised display the side needed after three straight losses to New Zealand.
Cooper’s pass to Samu Kerevi put him into space in the first half, the centre’s step inside and long pass finding Andrew Kellaway for the game’s first try. A scrum penalty offered Cooper another three points that built a 19-11 halftime lead – their first in seven Tests this year.
IT HAD TO BE HIM ? Quade Cooper knocks over the match winning penalty.
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The Springboks turned pressure into points, Bongi Mbonambi’s first-half try and Malcolm Marx’s second-half double all coming from rolling mauls. Marx’s second put them in front for the first time in 71 minutes, but another missed kick – their side’s fourth of the night- meant it was just a solitary point in the contest. The Wallabies looked for a reply in the final three minutes but appeared to miss their chance when Reece Hodge knocked on after Michael Hooper’s line break. Hodge then put up a bomb to give away possession in the final minute, but they rescued it with another strong scrum to set up the fairytale finish.
There were four yellow cards, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and Wallabies hooker Folau Fainga’a both sent for dangerous tackles while Willie Le Roux was deemed to knock a pass down deliberately and Matt Philip binned for pulling down another South African maul.
Cooper said he felt “at peace” with the game after a tumultuous career that saw him exiled from the Reds and also unwanted by former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans. “This is a game of rugby. When we put that in perspective and understand that we’re going to walk off this field win, lose or draw… it’s not going to be the end of the world,” he said.
“There’s so much more to life than just the result of a football game and when you can understand that, that’s when you when you feel at peace with the game, and with everything else around us.”
Andrew Kellaway CUTS THROUGH ?
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Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments