Of course he did! Ever since Quade Cooper’s name was read out in the Wallabies team list for the first time in four years on Friday, the rugby Gods must have been plotting the craziness of Sunday night.
Having led until the final eight minutes, the Wallabies went a point behind world chanmpions South Africa, blew an almost certain try and needed a miracle penalty with 30 seconds to go to win the match.
There was an agonised debate as Cooper and Reece Hodge discussed who might take the final shot, but Cooper had already nailed seven from seven and he backed himself, as he always has.
His perfect eighth will go down in Wallabies folklore.
“That was right on the brink of his distance,” said Wallabies captain Michael Hooper. “He’s a big game player and said ‘I’ve got it’ and nailed it.”
Cooper said: “The first thing was I had had a kick from a similar spot earlier. I only just had the legs to get it over. I had a chat to myself and said ‘is this your ego saying you want to take it?’ I looked at Hodgey and he backed me.”
There’s no doubt Australia looked more combative than at any time during their Bledisloe Cup collapse and the win was no less than they deserved with Cooper’s calm authority at the heart of it.
He came in for this match having been with the squad, but not in a matchday 23, for the three Bledisloe games and replaced youngster Noah Lolesio.
(Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
One of Cooper’s first touches with ball in hand saw him throw a loose pass to ground but he quickly regained composure, and his performance, like his pre-patter was much more Zen than rock and roll.
“He’s calmed the guys down,” said David Campese on Stan Sports. “When he gets the ball everyone’s waiting for something – Samu Kerevi is a really good fit for him as is Tate McDermott as well.”
“What I like is he hasn’t thrown any long cut out passes when it hasn’t been on out wide,” said Tim Horan. “He turns the ball back inside and find some forward runners.”
Coach Dave Rennie made it clear he expected a different kind of game than the Wallabies faced against the free-running All Blacks, and Boks coach Jacques Nienaber delivered on expectations, his team kicking the ball away at every opportunity.
Early on Australia was being out fought in aerial duels and Faf de Klerk’s box kicks had Tom Banks scrambling at fullback.
But the Wallabies caught a break when Boks captain Siya Kolisi spent 10 in the bin, lifting Banks dangerously in a tackle.
During the Bledisloe Australia twice had one man advantages against the All Blacks and conceded crucial points both times. As well as the obvious issue, the pyschological impact was huge.
On this occasion, the Wallabies got it right. Cooper stood deeper than usual in the back like and fed Kerevi. He smashed through de Klerk’s feeble attempt at tackle and found Andrew Kellaway, who continued his fine start to his Wallabies career with a fourth try of the campaign on 17 minutes.
The Boks struck back just after Kolisi’s remergence, as Matt Philip became the next player into the sin bin, Bongi Mbonambi crossing the Wallabies line.
But the Wallabies hung tough and produced arguably their biggest moment of 2021 just before the break. The forward pack went into a huddle just before a scrum and then Angus Bell’s power forced a penalty which Cooper converted for a 5-point halftime lead.
Cooper made it a margin of eight soon after the break, but then familiar issues struck Australia.
Banks, backed to the hilt by Rennie despite criticism of his work under the high ball against New Zealand, spilled a kick near his line. Soon after, with Australia under pressure Folau Fainga’a was sinbinned for a low, no-arms tackle on Ox Nche.
Malcolm Marx took full toll scoring a try from the resulting driving maul at the lineout.
Cooper drilled the toughest penalty of the night for a four point gap but the world champions kept coming, with Marx rolling over for his second try with eight minutes to play. Springboks No.10 Handre Pollard was off the field and his replacement Damian Willemse shanked his shot, leaving the Wallabies down by a point heading into the final five minutes.
But Willemse redeemed himself with a massive tackle at the finish, smashing the ball loose from Reece Hodge as he charged into the 22.
It looked like the game was gone, but the Boks let it slip, handing Quade his beautiful moment of redemption.
“Australia played well and deserved to win, but I don’t think we played well today,” said Nienaber. “We scored three tries to one but gave away 23 points from the tee, and lost in the 82nd minute.”
Emery Ambrose
Roar Rookie
Great game from QC. WBs played well against the SA game plan. SA will disappointed to leave 10 points out there.
MO
Guest
there's a good scene where they distract the other team - and yes it is clean.
Nat
Roar Guru
Reap what you sew champ. You lost any chance at civilised debate when you chose arrogance as a way of getting a message across. Go back to nodding along furiously about the marvel of a 7 goal snooze fest.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Eat a snickers Nat. More name calling, more derision. Here are some more stats. 6 clean breaks for Aus - 0 to SA. 21 defenders beaten by the wallabies - 5 by SA. SA also had 21 missed tackles to just 5 by Aus. https://www.rugby.com.au/match-centre/214/2022/2952?tab=Match-Stats here is a similar play by the ABs against the wallabies at the end of this article, but after a scrum. https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/08/18/why-the-wallabies-are-still-looking-for-fools-gold/
Nat
Roar Guru
BS, you tried to twist a non event into a plan and you proved my point with Kerevi. A tackle break isn't a line break. One decent line break that lead to a winger try - exactly what I said. If your head wasn't buried so far up your own A because they won you would understand what I'm saying. No, you want to start calling me champ. You're a child. I could train a mule to kick goals and it would probably make this reserve grade WB outfit.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Nat, I presented you with stats and video evidence… Your response – apparently trying to offend me by calling me a ‘rah rah boy’ (ouch :laughing:) and arrogant and then in the very next sentence mocking the sport and the low pay of players!?!? pot meet kettle much. Feel free to actually respond to the stats and evidence WITH stats and evidence whenever you feel like it. :thumbup:
Nat
Roar Guru
That's it little buddy, steer into condescending arrogance as only the rah rah boys can do. The rugby world laughs at the WBs just like the rest of Australia. It's no wonder they are relelgated to a 2nd tier TV channel and earn less than a labourer.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Ok champ. Tell me the last time the boks had 25 or more points put on them... Lions didn't manage it. Argentina didn't. No one in the RWC either. Once again, I never accepted anything as a good or bad performance. Here is a snippet of breaks just from Kerevi alone during the game - I counted 4. https://fb.watch/7-QwvGNesk/
Nat
Roar Guru
Yeah righto. You can't even see the contradiction in your own statements. Go ahead, accept that as a good performance and enjoy your position up there with Argentina and Japan.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Watch again champ. 6 linebreaks to 0. The attack structures were fine, it was an inability to get in the boks half and hang onto it long enough. I'm not accepting mediocrity, I'm just identifying where it is and that was in turnovers and the territory battle. Also watch that try again, its a 2 phase bounce back play after a lineout. It feeds on the boks over committing to wrapping around the ruck and targets their 'blindside'. Something the ABs did to the wallabies during the bledisloe and that they have done to the boks in the past.
Nat
Roar Guru
Mate, they scored one try out wide in the first half. The didn't trouble the Boks D let alone break it down. Enjoy the win by all means but don't accept mediocrity.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Apologies for going off. I still think you're trying to make something emotive of an essentially administrative procedure. Quade didn't qualify under the rules. He now has a politician on his side so the rules will become irrelevant and he'll get his citizenship, as will Genia.
Double Agent
Guest
"activities of benefit to Australia" I heard that when he went to the interview he took a MOTM dvd of himself playing for the WBs. Unfortunately it was actually the Bloopers video!!
Double Agent
Guest
Stripper cheerleaders? Hmmm...interesting.
cinque
Roar Rookie
Yes, I’ve replayed that first penalty a number of times and still can’t see it. Happy to be enlightened by those Roarers who know about scrums. Seemed me they both held their binds and face-planted at the same instant. They both hinged a bit. Second penalty might have been clearer. Really, these sort of infractions – where it’s difficult to be confident about who is to blame – should be free kicks anyway, without the option of another scrum.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Attack functioned well in terms of breaking the bok defence down. The problem was, particularly in that 2nd half, they couldn't maintain possession for more than 2 phases or get into the bok half. When they did, they looked good. These issues weren't quade's fault. And spinning it wide considering the boks D is not generally the right approach.
Nat
Roar Guru
I don't want to take away from their win. So often they pout themselves in the same position as last night and didn't get the result. When SA went ahead it was deja vu but the Boks played a far better 2nd half. My point is if they want to win consistently, they have to improve their attack significantly and not reply on penalties. Cooper's job is more than just kicking goals.
JC
Roar Rookie
My take is that it wasn’t a classic for spectators/viewers because of the stop-start nature and errors. But it was an important one for the Wallabies in how the forwards muscled up, closing it out and the confidence that should come from that. Similar to the French third Test but against more highly ranked opponents.
Oblonsky's Other Pun
Guest
To be honest I don't really understand the criticism of Banks. Maybe people are just looking for something that they are not going to get. But we mostly handled the Bok high ball pretty well, he carries a lot and has been solid in defence. Petaia you'd get more in attack and defence. No idea about his high ball catching though. Other than Petaia I don't really see any serious alternative to Banks. Although as stated I do not quite understand the criticisms, although I hope that we have someone better by 2023 for sure.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Ha Picasso! I texted ‘God bless him’ to a mate today as well.