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Quade Cooper is a Wallaby again. The ink is on the page, the circle is complete, the writing on the wall and the flash official.
News will be filtering through to offices, coffee shops, supermarket check-outs, and classrooms.
Nowhere will the news spread faster than in Cooper’s country of birth – a nation under God, rugby, and Richie.
Quade Cooper is a Wallaby again.
And the thing is, it is a piece of news that is less likely to be met with consternation than with a wry smile.
New Zealand does not fear Quade Cooper. They do not fear the Wallabies. The All Blacks could lose half their first-choice team to injury, and the confidence would not dissipate.
And it is confidence, not arrogance. It is only arrogance if you do not have the results to back it up.
The All Blacks have won 22 of their past 24 Tests incurring just one measly loss along the way – this when they fielded a tired outfit on the last of their 14 Tests last year against a desperate yet willing England team at Twickenham.
Do you know when the last time it was that a Wallabies team had a record like that?
Never. Not in 1991. Not in 1999. Definitely not in 2011. The Wallabies have never, ever had a winning record like it.
I therefore can’t imagine much room for disagreement at least among my compatriot Australians when I say that the All Blacks are the most well-oiled machine of a sporting team in the history of rugby.
Their depth, skill, intelligence, and sheer brilliance of play are unrivalled by any team current, and only by All Black teams of eras past.
And they do not fear Quade Cooper.
For all the excitement and chest-beating coming from up north with the instatement of Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies coach, you’d think that there might be some sensible discussion about applying at the Wallabies the humbling lessons learned by the Reds at the hands of the rampaging Crusaders.
Tactics, for instance. How can we hope to execute the Queenslander game plan at international level if it proves to be such a resounding catastrophe when played at the provincial level?
The main reason that the Reds game plan could not be effected during the match in Christchurch was that the Crusaders dominated the Reds in virtually every aspect of the physical presence of rugby.
They won the collisions, they viciously defended the advantage line, they came up on the Queenslander backs with ferocity, and they disrupted the Genia-Cooper connection to the point where Cooper found himself so far back in the pocket that he might have been James O’Connor.
If the Crusaders can do it to the Reds, you can bet your Bledisloe that the All Blacks can do it to the Wallabies.
They could probably do it without a back having to make a tackle – and with even more lethal efficiency.
Now there is something beautiful and poetic about ‘losing playing the way we want to play’, but it is ultimately a fruitless and futile endeavour.
We have one major piece of silverware to boast for the last decade of rugby. We won’t change that by recycling an old recipe.
Unfortunately, nobody seems to have told either Cooper or the other serious candidate.
In the most recent two matches of the Brumbies season, I regret to admit that I feel that Matt Toomua has been ghastly.
Hoicking long passes that may as well have carried gilded invitations for an intercept, cross-field kicks behind the opposing winger that have gone straight into touch, brainless flick passes and worst of all, frightening predictability when taking the ball into contact.
It’s as though he has heard that this kind of rubbish is coming into vogue at Wallaby headquarters!
Well, Quade Cooper is back. It probably is.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.