New Zealand Herald columnist delights in Wallabies picking Quade Cooper

FOUR more years, Australia. A prominent Kiwi columnist has begged the Wallabies to keep picking Quade Cooper, who is “as crazy as ever.”

Wallabies player Quade Cooper looks on during the Rugby Championship test match between the Australian Wallabies and South African Springboks at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane Saturday, July 18, 2015. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

THE Bledisloe Cup barbs have started early this year.

A prominent New Zealand rugby columnist is revelling in the Wallabies’ retention of enigmatic fly half Quade Cooper, who he says will guarantee All Blacks supremacy for another four years.

Chris Rattue of the New Zealand Herald used a column to target popular Kiwi whipping boy Cooper, who he said was “as crazy as ever and will lose more games than he wins for the Wallabies.”

The New Zealand-born five-eighth started the Wallabies’ 24-20 win over the Springboks in Brisbane, but Rattue argued Australia coach Michael Cheika was “playing with fire in World Cup year, relying on the nutty No 10 to guide the ship.”

Wallabies fly half Quade Cooper reacts after missing a penalty against the Springboks.

Cooper has been benched for Sunday’s Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Mendoza, with the steadier but less talented Bernard Foley preferred at the helm.

But Cooper is reportedly set to backflip on a proposed deal with Toulon and sign on with the Australian Rugby Union for the next four years.

“If so, we get the last laugh on the famous George Gregan line. Four more years, Australia,” Rattue wrote, in reference to the Wallabies halfback taunting the All Blacks at the 2003 World Cup.

“The dilemma for Cheika’s Australia — who face England and Wales in their World Cup pool — is that Cooper is the key to spreading the ball against big opponents and he throws a decent long pass on the run.

Wallabies fly half Quade Cooper during the Test against the Springboks.

“But... Cooper still doesn’t have a head for Tests. Even an easy kick at goal went so wide it was actually funny. For every rabbit Cooper can pull out of a hat — he helped create a try to Adam Ashley-Cooper — there’s a truck load of missing bunnies.”

Cooper caused heart palpitations among Wallabies fans on Saturday, when he threw a risky, behind the back pass intended for Tevita Kuridrani on the half-time hooter.

After the match, Cheika backed Cooper’s decision, saying the pass was on and that Kuridrani needed to be more switched on to the opportunity.

Rattue disagreed.

‘‘Cooper has been around long enough to delete the nonsense out of his game, know how to work the percentages even if they are a bit different from the rest.

“Instead, he is still capable of wacky plays that get his team into unimaginable trouble...

“Desperate Wallabies defence saved the day but had the Springboks profited from Cooper’s brain snap, Test over...

“The Aussies must review this game as if they lost and there’s an easy way for Cheika to do that, by imagining the loopy Cooper pass led to a Springboks try.”

Cooper was booed by Kiwi fans throughout the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, after he targeted All Blacks captain Richie McCaw with what were perceived as cheap shots.

Lima Sopoaga of the Highlanders poses with the trophy during a street parade in Dunedin.

The All Blacks, meanwhile, have entrusted their No 10 jersey to debutant Lima Sopoaga against the Springboks on Sunday.

Sopoaga starred in the Highlanders’ unlikely Super Rugby triumph but wasn’t on the field at the fulltime whistle of the final after coming off with serious calf cramps.

“I probably should eat a few more bananas or something like that on game-day,” Sopoaga told stuff.co.nz.

“I will probably get a few extra Powerades or something in.”

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Chiefs assistant coach Andrew Strawbridge has been released from Waikato Hospital after recovering from a freak eye infection which caused him to fall critically ill.

Strawbridge had been working as Samoa’s technical advisor for the historic Test against the All Blacks and spent time in an intensive care unit before being air-ambulanced home to New Zealand.

“It has been a very traumatic journey, so I have to be realistic that I will take a long time to recover, but I would like to thank so many people,” Strawbridge said.

James Broadhurst of the All Blacks during a training session in Johannesburg.

New All Blacks lock James Broadhurst had an interesting reaction to being told he would make his Test debut against South Africa on Sunday.

“I think a few swear words went through my head,” the Hurricanes man told Radio Sport.

Broadhurst added that his All Blacks call-up was a result of cutting down on his partying ways and developing into a true professional.

“If you look back three, four, five years, I was probably more worried about what happened after a game on Saturday night that what happened before it during the week,” he said.

“I’ve just matured and got a lot of those bad habits out of my system and just put my head down and worked hard.”

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All Blacks hooker Dane Coles is gearing up for what he describes as the most hostile environment in Test rugby — Johannesburg’s Ellis Park.

“I remember my first time driving to the stadium and I was like, ‘holy hell’,” he told media ahead of this weekend’s return trip.

“There were Africans banging on the bus and giving us the fingers. When I look back it’s one Test match that definitely stands out.

“It was probably the most physical, the most noise, probably one of the best test matches you could probably ever play, for the All Blacks against the Springboks at Ellis Park.”

Originally published as New Zealand Herald columnist delights in Wallabies picking Quade Cooper