'Lacked a bit of detail': Quade Cooper on All Blacks' troubles and new coach Rennie

Ex-Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper has offered an assessment on what went wrong with the All Blacks and what to expect under new head coach Dave Rennie.

It was Rennie who backed Cooper and plucked him from Japan to revive his international career in 2021, and the No.10 delivered with back-to-back wins over the world champion Springboks.

Cooper’s international hiatus was four years, a period to which he said the game changed drastically, but he built so much confidence based on Rennie’s level of preparation.

He said that Rennie will perhaps fill in the detail that was “lacking” over the last few years with the All Blacks.

“The All Blacks got all the talent in the world and I think over the past few years they just lacked a little bit of detail,” Cooper told Sky Sport NZ.

“When I came back into the Wallabies in 2021, the last time I had played was around 2017. The game had changed a hell of a lot in that small period of time.

“But the level of detail that he [Rennie] had covering, going into a game, as a number 10 I walked into that locker room with so much confidence.”

Cooper’s return coincided with a return to form and five-game winning streak through 2021 before injury prevented more.

A turbulent time for the Wallabies in 2022 with injuries saw Rennie let go by Rugby Australia which changed Cooper’s fortunes under Eddie Jones.

Jones decided to leave Cooper out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup squad which finished with a pool stage exit in France.

The flyhalf predicted that Rennie will fix the culture within the All Blacks again, and it will lead to big things for the side.

“That’s the difference that Rens brings. And also the cultural side of it, like New Zealand has always been built on culture first,” he said.

“Then it seemed like there was a little bit of a lack of culture so to speak, which again, is something that you never attribute to the All Blacks.

“One of his sayings was ‘do the obvious’, and that to me is like you create space through the systems that you use, but doing the obvious, passing it to the guy in the space, kicking the ball to the space, those sort of things that he teaches, and builds into the whole team.

“If you look at that, if you be patient, if you let him do his job, build a team… the All Blacks, as we always say, they’ve always been the best in the world, whether they’ve got the title or not.

“They’re the team that everyone is chasing so he’s got the infrastructure to do it. He’s got the smarts to do it and then just need you guys, the fans, everyone to support him and get behind the team.”