Quade’s Wallabies spot left right out
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 Australia last Saturday.
Cooper has not played for the Wallabies since June after missing the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup squads and Cheika made clear he didn’t view him among the best three five-eighths in Australia.
“We’re doing what we’ve been doing the whole time,” Cheika said. “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 suggested that Kyle Godwin would have been next in line for a call-up had he needed another five-eighth.
Instead, he has decided to take rookie Melbourne fullback Jack Maddocks as a development player for the 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,” Cheika said.
“Obviously we’ve got Dane (Haylett-Petty) out, and then Israel (Folau) not coming.
“I want to start finding a genuine fullback, someone with that X-factor.”
Alarmingly for 70-Test veteran Cooper, Cheika wants to speak to the Queensland Reds about Duncan Paia’aua playing 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.
“He doesn’t normally play five-eighth – we would have a plan for him,” Cheika said.
“I’ll have to have a talk to Queensland to see what they’re going to do with him eventually when that time comes. 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.
“We’ve got Billy Meakes as a 12 now, and also Karmichael as a 12, so a guy like Kyle Godwin would be the one who has COACH MICHAEL CHEIKA ON HIS PLANS FOR THE WALLABIES
been there before, who missed out, who can give us coverage.”
While Barbarians coach Alan Jones said he would select Cooper in his team “every time”, Cheika no longer sees him in the frame, despite bringing him back from French rugby last year on a deal understood to be worth about $750,000 a season for three years.
Cooper, 29, will have to play in the third-tier National Rugby Championship for the remainder of this season and then turn out for the Reds under new coach Brad Thorn in next year’s Super Rugby tournament.
The bolters in Cheika’s Spring Tour squad, aside from Maddocks, are locks Blake Enever and Matt Philip, who jumped ahead of Kane Douglas after Rory Arnold was ruled out of the trip due to injury.
I WANT TO START FINDING A GENUINE FULLBACK, SOMEONE WITH THAT X-FACTOR