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As incongruous as it might seem, a pivotal moment in Australia’s 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign will arrive at 3pm AEST Saturday when the two worst teams in Japan’s top league play each other in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon in Osaka.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, and hardcore fans across Australia, will presumably have everything crossed as Quade Cooper makes his return from his Achilles tendon rupture suffered in last year’s Rugby Championship against Argentina.
Cooper has been named to start for the Kintetsu Liners at No.10 on Saturday, alongside former Wallabies teammate Will Genia. Opposing them for NEC Green Rockets is another ex-Wallaby scrum half, Nick Phipps.
Quade Cooper during a Wallabies training camp at Sanctuary Cove on January 12, 2023. Photo: Chris Hyde/Getty Images
The fitness of the 35-year-old is of huge importance to the Wallabies with plenty of candidates but no compelling must-pick among the crop of emerging and discarded flyhalves. Already running on (comparatively) old legs, how will this latest injury have affected Cooper’s ability to perform?
Wallabies fans and Jones have kicked the tyres on Noah Lolesio, Bernard Foley, Ben Donaldson, Tane Edmed, Carter Gordon, James O’Çonnor and Tom Lynagh in the eight months that Cooper has been in recovery.
Cooper has hardly been out of sight, or out of mind. He’s chartered his recovery every step of the way on Instagram, while Jones has spoken about him on several occasions – sending messages via media conferences and his (now discontinued) podcast, as well as straight to the source. Cooper was one of seven overseas based players who participated in sessions at Wallabies camp this week via Zoom.
“Reflecting on the last eight months, I realise that my biggest challenge has been with myself,” Cooper wrote on social media on Friday.
“It takes a lot of focus and discipline to stick to my process and plan, but it’s all been worth it being able to step back on the field and compete with my teammates.
“… I’m committed to my process and building solid habits, day in and day out. It’s the small actions daily that lead to big victories.
“Coming back from injury is never easy, but it’s an opportunity to grow mentally, physically, and emotionally. From the day I got injured I knew I was ready for the challenges this journey would provide. For me it’s never about reaching the finish line or ticking off boxes, it’s about embracing the process and the challenges that come with it.
“The work doesn’t stop just because I’m nearing the end of the injury process. In fact, that’s when the real work begins. The goal is always progress not perfection.”
Cooper’s career as been far from perfection. He was first choice for the 2011 World Cup under Robbie Deans but famously blew up with the coach a year later as he battled back from a significant knee injury.
“I didn’t [handle it] and that was the thing, I had no help,” he later recalled of the mental issues he faced after his ACL injury.
Quade Cooper poses during an Australian Wallabies training session at Royal Pines Resort on July 27, 2022 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“I had no protection from the ARU, from the coaches, no one came out and protected me, except for my nanna.”
Cooper was second fiddle to Foley in 2015 and missed out on 2019 altogether. Along the way he fell out with Brad Thorn and Michael Cheika. It seemed his international career was over before Dave Rennie invited him for a coffee and used him to great effect in 2021.
Jones comes across as an admirer and, having flagged the World Cup team will need several co-captains – Cooper is every chance of getting a leadership role.
“When Quade came back (under Rennie), he didn’t look out of place and looked a more mature (player); still gifted in terms of his ball play and decision making,” Jones said in his first press conference after retaining the Wallabies job.
“He added a lot of physicality to his game which as a younger player, as they do, he struggled with a bit.”
More recently he told the ABC that he would “see where Quade can take us in the World Cup.” While Jones later tried to backtrack on the concreteness of that statement, there is no doubt Cooper will be on the plane – so long as he can stay off the crutches.
That’s no sure thing, of course, and the biggest dampener of expectations that Cooper can see through the Rugby Championship and the bigger World Cup games.
Since making his Wallabies return in 2021 against the Springboks, Cooper has played just six Tests – all of which Australia won.
He was due to start against England in the first Test in Perth in July, only to pull out in the arm up with a calf injury. Then Cooper ruptured his Achilles tendon which required this latest lengthy stint on the sidelines.
Much has been made of the new Zen Quade that Rennie restored to the national set up, and Cooper has stayed positive throughout.
“It’s been an incredible and smooth journey,” he said in January.
“This type of injury has been one of easiest I’ve had, it’s just about time. The first three months are the most difficult where you have to sit relatively still and find ways to continue to improve as an athlete and person and enjoy your life within the confines of being on crutches and a little scooter which is very helpful.”
While he might be the most talented No.10 Jones can call on, it takes next level optimism to think the rest of Cooper’s career will pass by injury free. He is clearly a risk and that must shape how Jones selects the two other flyhalves to back him up in France.
Of course, there is no room for negativity in Cooper’s mind. He leaves the doubts for others.
“I have no doubts about coming back to rugby but for me, the process of this whole journey has been more about discipline and what I choose to work on as a person which is everyday things,” he said.
“The better and more disciplined around how I act, the better the outcome will be with this injury. I’m not at all worried about coming back and how well I’ll play, I’m just enjoying the journey so far.”