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The reason behind botched Barbarians announcement of Quade Cooper
Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie has offered some insight behind Quade Cooper’s denial that he will play for the Barbarians next month.
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The famous invitational club last week announced that Cooper, the 74-test star playmaker, was one of three players who would wear the black-and-white hoops against Samoa at Twickenham on November 27.
Cooper was named alongside Springboks props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe as three of the newest additions to the Barbarians squad, which will be coached by Rennie for their one-off fixture.
However, Cooper took to Twitter in the wake of the announcement to deny any involvement with the Barbarians as he said he remains contracted to his Japanese club, the Kintetsu Liners, and hadn’t agreed to play.
“At no stage have I agreed to play for the @Barbarian_FC in the upcoming game against Samoa. I’m contracted to the Kintetsu Liners,” the 33-year-old posted last Tuesday.
FYI At no stage have I agreed to play for the @Barbarian_FC in the up coming game against Samoa.. I’m contracted to the Kintetsu liners. ??
— Quade Cooper (@QuadeCooper) October 5, 2021
Speaking to media following the announcement of his end-of-year tour squad – which Cooper is part of – on Friday, Rennie addressed the confusion over the matter by saying the Barbarians had “jumped the gun” on their announcement.
“We’d spoken to Quade, but he’s got a club to go back to, too,” Rennie said.
“We’re obviously keen for him to tour and stay another week, but obviously that makes it a little more difficult. He was certainly interested but he hadn’t committed. All good, no damage done.”
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Cooper’s contractual status with the Kintetsu Liners is also causing headaches for Rennie as Wallabies boss as he remains uncertain whether the first-five will be available for Australia’s test against Japan in Oita next Saturday.
The match falls outside World Rugby’s designated November test window, meaning foreign clubs aren’t obligated to release their players for Wallabies duties.
It also means Rennie may be without Suntory Sungoliath pair Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon for the Brave Blossoms clash, but he said he is in constant dialogue with the Japanese clubs about his players’ availability.
“The key thing around this is we’re trying to create a strong relationship with the Japanese clubs too, because while, from a Reg Nine point-of-view, we can grab them, they’re their primary employer at the moment,” Rennie said.
Expect an array of changes when the All Blacks name their team to face the USA Eagles in the first test of their end-of-year tour. #AllBlacks https://t.co/sCdkhMx7xL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 11, 2021
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“While they’ve been very supportive, they’ve also got their own programmes to focus on and they want to be successful as well and I guess they want their best players fit and available, so it’s important we establish a good relationship there.”
Rennie also doesn’t expect to obtain the services of recalled France-based forwards Will Skelton, Rory Arnold and Tolu Latu until after round 10 of the Top 14, which won’t be until after Australia’s test against Scotland in Edinburgh on November 7.
The Barbarians have already announced a number of key players for next month’s clash, including Wallabies trio Nic White, Len Ikitau and Pete Samu, Springboks duo Malcolm Marx and Duane Vermeulen, and Los Pumas loose forward Pablo Matera.
Their match against Samoa comes in spite of the fact that the Pacific Island nation cancelled its end-of-year tour – where they would have also faced Georgia, Uruguay and Spain – due to health concerns for local-based players regarding Covid-19.
Instead, Lakapi Samoa, the nation’s governing body, said it expects a “Manu Samoa selection” made up of European-based players and staff will play the Barbarians in a match that has already sold more than 30,000 tickets.
Comments on RugbyPass
Shame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
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