{"id":126467,"date":"2021-09-10T00:36:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T00:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=126467"},"modified":"2021-09-10T00:59:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T00:59:49","slug":"quade-cooper-set-for-shock-wallabies-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=126467","title":{"rendered":"Quade Cooper set for shock Wallabies comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams has got his wish with Quade Cooper set to make a sensational comeback for the Wallabies on the Gold Coast on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Two-time Rugby World Cup champion Williams said he was "baffled" by Cooper's omission<\/a> for Australia's 38-21 loss to the All Blacks in Perth last weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

Young Noah Lolesio again struggled to assert himself at five-eighth and Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has finally lost patience ahead of the Rugby Championship clash with the world champion Springboks.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to\u00a0watch\u00a0every match of<\/em><\/strong> The Rugby Championship<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, continuing\u00a0this Sunday with\u00a0All Blacks\u00a0vs Argentina and Wallabies vs South Africa –\u00a0live, extended and ad-free from 4.45pm AEST.\u00a0Start your 7 day free trial\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cooper, 33, hasn't played a Test since 2017 but bolted back into the frame when Rennie added him to the squad as injury cover for James O'Connor.<\/p>\n

"The non-selection that baffled me before the game was the non-selection of Quade Cooper," Williams said on Stan Sport's post-game coverage last weekend.<\/p>\n

"I know that it might be biased coming from my lips, because I'm close to him but just from a rugby point of view, what he can add…<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Springboks superstar ruled out of Wallabies Test<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Rugby's radical 12-a-side version of IPL cricket<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies unveil historic First Nations jersey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Brother Reece (Hodge), he's Mr Fix-It, he's a great player but I think in terms of unlocking this great All Blacks defence, Quade is your man."<\/p>\n

The full Wallabies team will be named later today.<\/p>\n

Cooper's selection completely changes the complexion of the backline with his experience and vast array of tricks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The mercurial five-eighth now plays club rugby in Japan but will find space and opportunities much harder to come by against the notoriously stingy South Africa defence.<\/p>\n

Cooper told reporters last week that he wasn't fazed by being overlooked for selection.<\/p>\n

"It hasn't been a focus of mine at all." Cooper said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I didn't come into the squad thinking 'I have to play a Test.<\/p>\n

"If I can grow as a rugby player, take that back to Japan, that's a great reward for myself.<\/p>\n

"Anything else outside of that is a bonus."<\/p>\n

\"Barrett\u00a0sees\u00a0red\u00a0for\u00a0high\u00a0kick\"<\/p>\n

Rennie said last week that Cooper went close to selection for the third Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth.<\/p>\n

"We looked at the fact that he's contributing really well, he's training well as well," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

"We were keen to bring Samu (Kerevi) in, we thought a couple of changes in the inside backs for both guys who haven't had a lot of time in the environment we thought that was too much.<\/p>\n

\"Bridge\u00a0adds\u00a0to\u00a0Wallabies\u2019\u00a0pain\"<\/p>\n

"We wanted to back Noah. He's played a lot of good footy for us.<\/p>\n

"There was a lot of discussion in and around that position because of the experience that Quade can bring.<\/p>\n

"And again, he's missed out on selection but he's been fantastic.<\/p>\n

"He's contributing to training really well."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams has got his wish with Quade Cooper set to make a sensational comeback for the Wallabies on the Gold Coast on Sunday. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126473,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126467\/revisions\/126473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}