Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale recommit to Wallabies for 2015 World Cup
QUADE Cooper has re-signed with Australian rugby and Kurtley Beale will follow suit in days in a double whammy for the Wallabies before the World Cup.
QUADE Cooper has re-signed with Australian rugby and Kurtley Beale will follow suit in days in a double whammy for the Wallabies nine months before the World Cup.
Cooper has signed a one-year extension with the ARU that ensures he will be part of the Wallabies’ plans for the World Cup in England next year.
A press conference has been scheduled for next week in Brisbane to announce the coup, while Beale is also understood to have agreed to terms for another year with the ARU.
It’s understood new Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has been negotiating the deal with Beale, who just two months ago was facing the sack after it emerged he had sent offensive text messages to former Wallabies business manager Di Patstson.
“It’s on the way, we’re very close to getting that deal done now,” Cheika said of Beale’s new contract.
“Everything is agreed, it’s just a matter of the final papers being drawn up by the ARU.
“I would expect by the end of the year for sure.”
Asked about Cooper, Cheika replied: “I think it’s close, you’d need to talk to Queensland about that, I’d rather not talk about that.”
After inquiries by the Telegraph yesterday afternoon it emerged that Cooper had indeed re-signed.
With James O’Connor also joining Queensland for the 2015 season, as well as former NRL star Karmichael Hunt, it ensures Cheika has a rich pool of playmaking talent to choose from behind incumbent five-eighth Bernard Foley.
Cooper had been pursued by wealthy French rugby clubs but wants a chance at redemption following a disappointing 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Beale was always expected to re-sign with the ARU once Cheika was appointed coach of the Wallabies, given the pair have a very close relationship.
Originally published as Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale recommit to Wallabies for 2015 World Cup