‘I was looked at like an animal at a zoo’

Quade Cooper, pictured, and Danny Cipriani could have been stars in Japan, but for rugby’s distrust of mavericks

IT DOES not take long for a couple of rugby fans to pick out Quade Cooper from the crowds beneath the glow of Osaka’s neon billboards. “Why aren’t you playing at the World Cup?” they ask.

Cooper is hard to miss with his baseball cap and mismatched shoelaces — fluorescent green and orange — but blending in has never been his style. He lit up the pitch in the Wallabies jersey, winning 70 caps, but has now taken exile in Japan after being banished from the Australian set-up.

Why? Depressingly, part of the answer lies in rugby’s reluctance to embrace personalities who do not stand to attention and wear the right clothes. But in order to fully understand one of the world’s most gifted — and exiled — No 10s, the story goes back to his childhood which, until now, he has rarely spoken about in public.

“For me to be sitting here talking to you, my mum pretty much sacrificed her life,’’ he says, taking a seat around the corner, in a French-Japanese café.

“She was a single mum with two kids at 18. My parents split up when I was six months. Mum was from an abusive relationship and she took us out of that, and we stayed in a women’s refuge for a year or so. We got a house through the housing commission.

“There’s a story my sister tells me about a time we went out to collect the milk from the milk truck.

“We loved doing that. Richard Kahui’s mum drove the milk truck, funnily enough. It was a dollar for milk and mum wanted it for coffee and cereal.

“One time, my sister bought chocolate milk instead of normal milk.

“We ran inside drinking this chocolate milk and drank it in the lounge, where we all slept on a mattress by the fireplace. We were so excited but I never knew that mum went into the kitchen and just burst into tears.

“That was her last dollar and that milk was supposed to last a whole week. We had such a happy childhood and it wasn’t until much later that I realised her sacrifice.

“In my teens, I got a scholarship at one of the most prestigious schools in Queensland. My first day, meeting Mr Grogan, we turned up in mum’s sh*t-box car. I was a little bit embarrassed because both sides of the street were just Porsches, Range Rovers, Mercedes.

“I didn’t feel like I belonged but the one thing that made it comfortable was rugby. The rugby field was where I knew I could just be myself. At the start, they looked at me like I was some animal in the zoo. It was, ‘Ah, are you the scholarship kid?’

“Because you look different, second-hand uniform, different hair, you were out of place. I remember parents complaining that I was taking the spot of someone’s child who had been at the school for X years and paid X amount of dollars in fees. I could feel the eyes looking at me thinking I shouldn’t be there. Rugby is a certain way: Very conservative, no tattoos, having your hair cut a certain way. It shouldn’t be like that.”

In some ways, Cooper’s narrative draws parallels with England’s Danny Cipriani. Both blessed with breathtaking flair and unpredictability. Having been pushed out of the Australian set-up, Cooper is here in Japan playing rugby for the Kintetsu Liners.

His former employers, the Reds, banished him from training and Wallaby coach Michael Cheika had no interest in throwing out a lifeline for the World Cup.

“They tried to make my life very difficult but it actually made things a whole lot easier,” he says.

“I can’t escape the fact the World Cup is being played in my backyard but I knew I We turned in mom’s sh*t

box car. l was a little embarrassed because both sides of the street were just Porsches, Range Rovers and

Mercedes’. wouldn’t be playing in it as long as Michael Cheika had a job. I’ve come to terms with it.’’

Cooper draws attention to his vintage Chicago Bulls basketball cap. He tells the story of their unparalleled dominance in the nineties and how their coach, Phil Jackson, found a way to embrace the contrasting personalities of Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. Would rugby have done the same?

“Rugby’s got a very specific type of person,” he explains.

“Look at Danny Cipriani. One of the most gifted, talented footballers . . . Probably playing some of the best footy in the world. The coach’s job is to work out how to get the best out of these guys and put their egos aside.

“In other sports, players are encouraged to be themselves.

“In rugby, if you do something that people don’t expect or understand then you become a ‘maverick’.

“The demographic of rugby is private schools which has social norms. My little brother is 17 and I go to watch his games, you can hear parents on the sidelines having a crack at kids who are a little bit flashy.

“The rugby pitch is a safe haven for a quiet island kid to go out and express his talent, wear different coloured boots. Maybe they’re jealous?”

Over two hours of conversation, Cooper repeatedly refers back to how much he enjoyed working under Ewen McKenzie.

But he also holds Eddie Jones in the highest regard. Jones gave the No 10 his club breakthrough as a teenager and Cooper recalls a hard taskmaster who he would love to see given a second shot at coaching the Australia national team.

“Eddie was one of the best coaches I had,” says Cooper. “We were 17 or 18 when he was coaching us at the Reds and he was easily the toughest taskmaster I ever had. Seeing him rattle people. Jeez, man.”

Cooper will be cheering on his old mates at the World Cup.

“They’re my brothers,’’ he says. ‘I’ll always be supporting them.” | Mail On Sunday BIG seas and strong winds this past week have kept many off the water, but promise of better weather and some calm patches have many excited.

The North Coast has produced some real quality snoek over the past few months. Most of the action has been based around the lower North Coast at places such as Jex Estate.

Although access to this area is difficult, the reward far outweighs the effort. Fillet baits and spoons have been the two best methods, beating out the small, lipped lures like the Kingfisher Rattler or the Strike Pro Magic Minnow. Trolling the fillets and lures close to the backline while working a spoon in the area is certain to produce a bite. Sometimes you may be surprised what species latches on to your bait.

The central coast has seen a little bit of game fish action in the form of tuna.

These have been mainly on live bait, but a few anglers have managed some on poppers and stick baits.

The live baits have either been drifted behind the boats while catching bait or bottom fishing, or slowly trolled in likely areas.

A 6/0 Mustad tuna circle through the top lip or bridled though the eye sockets will see better hook-ups and a live bait that stays alive for a lot longer.

The bottom fishing has not been as fruitful as it has been in the past few weeks. The commercial-, charter- and recreational-anglers are all struggling for a bite. Perseverance is all that will help – and fresh bait!

The summer fish are here! Although not in great numbers yet, the summer giants are starting to make an appearance LYNTON Premlall with a grey shark that he caught at Zinkwazi on the North Coast. This cartilaginous fish was safely released.

and the sound of drags screaming is becoming a regular occurrence.

Please remember that the shad season is now closed. This means you can no longer keep any shad, or use them as bait. Any shad caught must be released immediately.

Well done to the winner of the September shad competition: 1st Vinay Seoraj (5.86kg), 2nd Tyler O’Connor (4.66kg) and 3rd Tyrone Botha (4.46kg).

The North Coast is where the first summer action starts and is thus highly monitored at this time of year.

The banks have started to produce fish, as has the Richards Bay (RB) area.

The banks have mainly been throwing diamonds, while the RB area has been producing the variety. Most of this fishing can be done using the same trace and baits with a little variation here and there to target specific species.

The Durban beachfront area seen a lot of action over the past week. This is due mainly to the poor weather restricting fishing in other areas and the beachfront

being a lot more protected and thus more fishable than many other spots.

The piers are still producing shad (now closed season) and other edibles. The other edibles include stumpies, stone bream, brusher and pompano.

The best baits have been mixes of chokka and prawn for the stumpies, while the brusher have found muscleman crab irresistible.

The beaches have seen a lot of anglers targeting the inedible summer fish with varying success.

The main catches have been blue and brown rays with some grey sharks and diamonds mixed in.

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QUADE COOPER AFTER ACCEPTING A SCHOLARSHIP AT ONE OF THE PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOLS IN QUEENSLAND.