The vital Bledisloe Cup role Quade Cooper could play for Wallabies
Ex-All Blacks hooker James Parsons believes returning Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper could provide Australia with a pivotal off-field role in the lead-up to the Bledisloe Cup series.
Cooper was a shock re-call into the Australian national squad a week ago as Dave Rennie’s side prepares for their Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship campaigns, which begins next Saturday at Eden Park in Auckland.
Cooper, who last played for Australia in 2017, travelled with the Wallabies to Auckland on Friday ahead of their opening clash against the All Blacks, although it remains to be seen whether he will feature in Rennie’s match day side.
According to Parsons, Cooper’s influence on the playing group will be strongly felt regardless of whether he plays or not.
Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod earlier this week, the former two-test rake said he anticipates Cooper will play a vital role in preparing the Wallabies to face the All Blacks – a fixture the first-five has become familiar with over his extensive career.
Many of Cooper’s most memorable moments, both good and bad, have come while playing for the Wallabies against his nation of birth, and Parsons said that could prove to be valuable for Australia’s younger and inexperienced figures.
“I think he’s got a massive role to play in terms of prepping the team that’s going to play,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“I just think it’s so underappreciated publicly, but giving someone like Quade of his experience – understanding playing the All Blacks, what it’s like at Eden Park, he’s been through the good and the bad – the reins to run the ‘All Blacks’, as such, at training and do the research… He’s a true professional in terms of his preparation.
“Having him orchestrating that at training is only going to better prepare them to perform on the weekend.
“He’ll be used, I believe, like a mentor and I suppose a voice of experience for guys like Noah [Lolesio], James O’Connor to come back in, and allow them to just focus on Australia and the way they play.
“He’ll be taking the guys that are outside that 23 to really hone in and bring a level of intensity at training that is going to have them humming come Saturday and almost know what to expect before they get out there against the All Blacks.
“Of course you can’t orchestrate it perfectly, but he’s hungry to train, he’s hungry to be involved, and that to me would be a role that would just be perfectly-suited for someone with his experience, but also his want to have another crack.”
Wallabies halfback Nic White has issued a warning to the All Blacks a week out from their opening Bledisloe Cup clash of the year at Eden Park next Saturday. #AllBlacks #Wallabies #BledisloeCup https://t.co/1Xii1d3jrN
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 31, 2021
Maori All Blacks halfback Bryn Hall shared similar sentiments as he expressed the importance of having an experienced leader within Australia’s ranks.
“I think we’ve talked about how good experience is,” the veteran Crusaders halfback told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“Not too sure what the injury scenario is with James O’Connor and [Matt] To’omua as well, but I think any time you can get a player with that kind of experience that’s played a lot of caps for the Wallabies, it can only help a guy like Noah Lolesio.”
Hall drew comparisons of Cooper’s role within the Wallabies to that of Morne Steyn, who has been re-called into the Springboks squad for the British and Irish Lions series after a five-year hiatus.
“We’ve talked about it with Morne Steyn coming back to help [Handre] Pollard and that as well,” Hall said.
“I think having a guy with that kind of experience, who’s played in big matches and has a pretty good understanding of what it looks like in big matches, it’s only going to help Noah when they give him the reins.
“If they feel like they want to go in a different direction with experience, they’ve got a guy like Quade Cooper who’s done a lot in that Wallabies jersey.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments