Quade Cooper is facing a likely knee reconstruction and will be fighting to return for next year’s Super Rugby competition after his tumultuous Rugby World Cup campaign ended horribly on Friday night.
Cooper finally received the standing ovation he was craving in his difficult debut tournament but it came with the sympathies of a packed crowd after a suspected rupture of his anterior cruciate ligament.
It came in the 22nd minute of the Wallabies’ 21-18 victory over Wales in the play-off for third which ended a 25-year drought at Eden Park.
The besieged playmaker had just made the best start to his seven games where he’d lost form amid a nationwide attack.
But the devastating knee injury just rubbed salt into raw wounds for the Kiwi-born Cooper who has been maligned as ‘Public Enemy No.1’ since arriving in New Zealand.
The pain was etched in his tear-stained face as he was assisted off Eden Park to the warm applause of the crowd.
The 23-year-old stopped dead after one of his signature jinking mid-air steps went wrong, landing badly on his right knee, which buckled on impact.
“I suspect it’s a ruptured ACL,” said coach Robbie Deans.
“He’s aware it’s a significant injury. But with technology these days he will come back good to go.
“You actually end up with a stronger ACL post operation these days than prior to.
“He will be back playing Super Rugby. But obviously that whole experience and that adversity will challenge him.
“I’ve got no doubt he will come out of that stronger for it.”
It’s the first time Cooper has been injured in the past two years, when he’s played almost every minute of every match for the Wallabies and Queensland Reds.
He will miss Australia’s two-Test end-of-season tour when they play Wales and the Barbarians in the United Kingdom in November and December.
Berrick Barnes, man-of-the-match against the Welsh on Friday night, now looms as the man to call the shots on the tour.
Wallabies and Reds halves partner Will Genia said Cooper remained in good spirits in the dressing rooms and was looking forward to recharging his batteries with a break away from the game.
“It was really disappointing to see him go down and end the tournament on that note but I told him in the sheds that I’m really proud of the way he handled everything, all the pressure and all the niggle from everyone,” Genia told AAP.
“He’s looking forward to getting home and refreshing mentally and getting away from footy.”
Genia said the Reds would be able to cope without Cooper if he missed the start of their Super Rugby title defence and backed Kiwi recruit Mike Harris to step up into the role.
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