Wallabies captain Harry Wilson says a Quade Cooper comeback arc can’t be discounted ahead of the Rugby World Cup next year, after the 38-year-old Osaka resident spent time as an onlooker with the Australian squad this week ahead of their clash with Japan.
Wilson paid tribute to Cooper as he declared a win over the Brave Blossoms on Saturday was a non-negotiable for a team who aspire to be consistent, and said the coach change from Joe Schmidt to Les Kiss should not impact their performance.
“We know we need to win,” Wilson said. “We want to be a consistent team, we want to be a consistently winning team. For us, there’s no excuses of a new coach coming in. We’ve got a lot of continuity in the team and squad, so we’re very confident and we need to win.”
Cooper was a familiar onlooker at Wallabies training on Tuesday in Kobe, just down the coast from Osaka, where the 80-Test Wallaby has lived for seven years. He was a star player for the Kintetsu Liners for six seasons, and transitioned to become the side’s attack coach last year.
The Wallabies-Japan Test is being played at the Liners’ homeground, Hanamozo Stadium.
“It was really good having Quade in. He’s obviously a Wallaby legend, and he’s a person a lot of us admire and a lot of the boys’ heroes growing up. So to have him just around the group – and he came and had lunch with us too afterwards, which was really nice – everyone connects with him,” Wilson said.
“Having him around the group was awesome.”
Though he hasn’t played 15 months, Cooper said recently he still harboured an ambition to play for the Wallabies again. His last Test was in 2023, after being axed by Eddie Jones, but Cooper said he’d never officially retired from club, or international, rugby.
Wilson said he wouldn’t bet against the still super-fit playmaker, if he was able to find a club. Though Bernard Foley and James O’Connor are both returning to Australia next year, with the Tahs and the Force, there doesn’t appear to any openings for the third amigo, Cooper.
He would have to resume playing in Japan and win a recall via the Giteau Law.
“I’d say definitely physically he’s still capable and I guess for him it’s probably if he wants to go back, he’s obviously got to start playing again. He’s an unbelievable talent, his knowledge of rugby is unbelievable so no doubt about the ability to still do it,” Wilson said.
“I guess at the moment he’s not signed or anything next year so it will be tough but you’d never rule out Quade if he has the desire.”
After snapping a six-game losing streak against Italy in Perth last month, Wilson said the importance of the Wallabies backing up with a win over Japan was critical.
“We were really happy with our performance against Italy, and we’re well aware that’s just one victory and we want to keep that consistency going. It’s something we’ve struggled with over the past few years, so we’ve put a lot of emphasis on that and really just want to put another good performance in.”
Japan’s counter-attacking back three were identified as a key threat by the Wallabies captain, and he said they’ll have to kick intelligently.
“When we give them the ball, we’ve got to put them in the right positions, because their back three and their fly-half are very electric with the ball.”
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Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
