'He is not delivering': Kiwi view on Quade Cooper
SPOTLIGHT: All Black great Jeff Wilson has placed the spotlight on Quade Cooper after Australia’s defeat to Argentina on Saturday.
The Wallabies have recorded two consecutive defeats in the 2023 Rugby Championship and found themselves at the bottom of the table.
The losses mark a horrible start for Eddie Jones’ second stint as Wallabies head coach.
With the World Cup in less than two months, the 62-year-old is under loads of pressure to overturn the Wallabies’ fortunes.
And it doesn’t get any easier for the former England boss, who has the daunting task of leading the Wallabies against the All Blacks in two weeks’ time.
A win could be a major confidence boost, however, for that to occur Jones will need to readjust his selection, with the flyhalf option being one of the utmost importance.
Jones has selected Quade Cooper as the Wallabies’ flyhalf for the two opening rounds against Springboks and Argentina.
And in both matches, Cooper failed to stamp his authority on the match.
The flyhalf was outplayed by Springbok No.10 Manie Libbok during the 12-43 loss and was again overwhelmed in the upset 31-34 to Argentina.
His performance has come under scrutiny with former New Zealand utility back Jeff Wilson struggling to see the reasoning behind selecting Cooper at 35 years of age.
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“The Wallabies will look at the Bledisloe Cup and see they can completely turn their season around in one game,” Wilson said.
“Eddie will know that they’ll still find a way to get confidence even though they’ve lost two games.
“I still can’t understand why is Quade Cooper running this team. Because he’s not delivering.
“We know he doesn’t deliver against the All Blacks. How can he be wearing the No.10 jersey in two weeks’ time? Seriously?”
Cooper’s Wallabies comeback in 2021 under Dave Rennie came after the Bledisloe series had already been whitewashed 3-0 by the All Blacks.
They went on a run of five wins before Cooper returned to his Japanese club ahead of the end-of-year tour. In 2022 Cooper ruptured his Achilles against Argentina in the first game of the year which ruled him out for the season.
He has yet to play the All Blacks since returning to international level with his last outing against New Zealand in 2016 off the bench at Eden Park.
Former All Black No.8 Stephen Bates said it’s too early to make a call on Cooper after returning from injury but was looking forward to Eddie Jones’ mind games in the lead-up.
“He’s coming back from an Achilles injury, he needs more time in the saddle.
“What I do really like about Eddie Jones is all the mind games that he plays. I really enjoy it, I do.
“The reason why I enjoy it is it gets people talking. He’s not your stereotypical coach who says ‘yeah I hope we play well, it will be a good battle’.
“He plays mind games and gets people talking about the Test and that’s what we want.”
*Additional source: Rugbypass
