Wallabies headed in right direction

Wallabies flyhalf Quade Cooper believes that his team are 'heading in the right direction' under new coach Ewen McKenzie ahead of their year-end tour.

Although they went down to the All Blacks for the third time this year in Dunedin on Saturday, there were a few positive signs for the Wallabies in an improved performance.

"At the start of the Rugby Championship we were trying to find our feet as a team. We knew where we wanted to go but it was about trying to see what was working for us," said Cooper.

"As a team we're heading in the right direction and the more good games put together, on a personal note, the better the performance as a team," he added.

The Reds playmaker said that the recent tour of south Africa and Argentina had been crucial as it had brought the team closer together, which will be vital on their upcoming Grand Slam tour of Europe.

"You're put in a position where you're living together basically. Six weeks away as a team you get to know each other on and off the field, you get to see peoples' habits, their traits, things that you may not necessarily like about the players but you have to work hard and the things you like, you build on those.

"You work off the field then when you come to training we all work as hard as we can to get that end result which is a world class team," he said.

Although the Wallabies were let down by a few important lapses in Dunedin, Cooper preferred to focus on the positives after the match and said that although they are making mistakes the team is still progressing.

"I think the positive thing is that we are making more positive errors rather than just silly errors where it's us just not focusing or not trying to attack the line. The moment we cut those errors out I'm sure we'll be in a great position to put the pressure on a lot of teams," he said.