'We will see where he can take us': Eddie Jones thinks Quade Cooper has another World Cup in him
Eddie Jones has backed flyhalf Quade Cooper to make the next World Cup at 35 years of age but stopped short of guaranteeing him a place in the squad.
The new Wallabies coach joined ABC’s Offsiders panel show to discuss a range of topics surrounding the Wallabies including whether Cooper was in his plans.
Jones revealed he met with Cooper in Brisbane before the playmaker headed back to Japan to link with his club ahead of the new season.
“Yes I think so, he’s recovering well,” Jones revealed when asked if he could make another World Cup.
“I had a quick chat to him in Brisbane. He looked full of beans, he’s going back to play for his club in Japan, Kintetsu, who aren’t doing too well.
“They haven’t won a game so they need a bit of Quade magic. Get his confidence back, get them to win a few games and we will see where he can take us in the World Cup.”
Jones then backtracked on his words to clarify that he wasn’t guaranteeing Cooper’s selection: “I didn’t say that, I said he could be [with us].”
Since making his Wallabies return in 2021 against the Springboks the flyhalf has played six Tests, all of which Australia won before injury struck in 2022 ruling him out of the international season.
He was due to start against England in the first Test last July but he withdrew late with a calf complaint. Returning to the side in Argentina to play Los Pumas, Cooper ruptured his Achilles tendon which required a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
Cooper will return to action with the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners who are in division one of the Japan Rugby League One but have struggled to be competitive so far losing all 10 games by heavy margins.
Jones was not concerned about the level of rugby Cooper will play in the lead up to the World Cup, highlighting that just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t.
“Well I’ll tell you the other thing. Before Rassie took over South Africa in 2018, they were winning less than 40 per cent of their games,” Jones explained.
“No team has won the World Cup after losing a game before South Africa [did it].
“So there is the opportunity to do different things.”
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A World Cup return in 2023 would be a full circle comeback for the pivot who was the first choice No 10 for the Wallabies in 2011 in a strong side that made the semi-final.
Cooper made the 2015 squad but played second fiddle to Michael Cheika’s preferred option of Bernard Foley and missed the 2019 event altogether despite playing for the Rebels at the time.
Jones did reveal that the race for the flyhalf position is ‘wide open’ and a leaked draft XV drawn up by Eddie Jones at the Super round in Melbourne indicated that the new Wallabies head coach is perhaps thinking of youth.
“We will need to have three 10s at the World Cup, Quade could be one of them, and the other two spots are wide open,” he said.
Jones draft camp list for April that surfaced on Twitter included Brumbies No 10 Noah Lolesio, upstart 19-year-old Tom Lynagh of the Reds and Ben Donaldson of the Waratahs, who made a test debut against Ireland late last year. All three of those players are 23 years old or younger.
Wallaby veteran Foley also made a return last year under Dave Rennie, answering an SOS call of sorts as injuries struck.
Foley plies his trade in Japan with league leaders Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay and like Cooper would count towards the three player quota for overseas-based players under Rugby Australia’s eligibility rules.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 comments