Cheika puts a line through Cooper for tour

RUGBY UNION: Quade Cooper has been ignored in selection once again by Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, leaving his international career in tatters.

Cheika left Cooper out of his 32-man spring tour squad despite the playmaker impressing as captain of the Barbarians against the Wallabies last Saturday.

Cooper has not played for Australia since June – left out of the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup squads – and Cheika made it clear he doesn’t view Cooper among the best three five-eighths in Australia.

“We’re doing what we’ve been doing the whole time, in the order I would select right now for what I want we’ve

got (Bernard) Foley first up, then we’ve got (Kurtley) Beale and (Reece) Hodge, we see Hodge playing in there at some stage,” Cheika said.

In fact, Cheika suggested that Kyle Godwin would have been next in line for a call-up to the squad had he needed another five-eighth.

Instead, he has decided to take rookie Melbourne fullback Jack Maddocks as a development player on tour.

“We feel we’ve got enough coverage there and we want to start working to bring in the young fella (Maddocks), a genuine fullback, obviously we’ve got Dane (Haylett-Petty) out, and then Israel (Folau) not coming,” Cheika said.

“I want to start finding a genuine fullback, someone with that X-factor.”

Alarmingly for 70-Test veteran Cooper, Cheika is also keen to speak to the Queensland Reds about playing Duncan Paia’aua at five-eighth in Super Rugby.

The two opposed each other last weekend, with Paia’aua – who plays No.12 outside Cooper at the Reds – making his debut in Wallaby gold and scoring two tries.

“(Paia’aua) doesn’t normally play five-eighth, we would have a plan for him going forward, I’ll have to have a talk to Queensland to see what they’re going to do with him eventually when that time comes,” Cheika said.

“I’ve been happy with the coverage we’ve had all throughout the season so far having just those three guys, Foley, Beale and Hodge as playmakers.”