Quade Cooper’s return ‘great for Australian rugby’, says flyhalf rival Bernard Foley

BERNARD Foley says Quade Cooper’s return to Australia is great for rugby but understands the real threat the 58-Test veteran poses to his Wallaby jersey.

Bernard Foley has welcomed Quade Cooepr’s return to Australian rugby.

WARATAHS pivot Bernard Foley has welcomed the return of Quade Cooper to Australian rugby, and they may be rivals for the Wallabies No.10 again as early as next month.

After much speculation, Cooper confirmed via Twitter on Wednesday that he is leaving French super club Toulon halfway through a two-year deal and heading home to an undetermined Aussie Super Rugby franchise.

Cooper is leaning towards a return to the Reds but The Daily Telegraph understands the Melbourne Rebels are extremely keen on the playmaker and have put together a sizeable offer to lure him south.

Either way, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika — who said last month he’d been actively trying to talk Cooper into coming home — is likely to have the 58-Test ballplayer back in the Test fold ahead of the opening Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney on August 20.

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Bernard Foley has welcomed Quade Cooepr’s return to Australian rugby.

It would pit Cooper against Foley again for the gold No.10, after the pair duelled for the role in the lead-up to the World Cup.

But Foley said he was pleased to see Cooper was coming back.

“It’s great for Australian rugby isn’t it? To have a player of that calibre back,” Foley said.

“I think competition has always been healthy between the two of us, and all the tens in Australia, it’s great to have. For Australian rugby it can only be a positive. It’s exciting, wherever he ends up. The competition is great.

“In all the training last year we had great competition. We had two 15-sides running against each other. This year I suppose we probably lacked a bit of depth in that playmaker role, especially in those first couple of games (in June), we were quite limited.”

Quade Cooper acquaint himself with Bernard Foley. Picture: Mitch Cameron

Foley also fired back at former Wallabies coach Glen Ella, who slammed the skills of Australian players after last weekend’s horror round in an online column.

“I don’t think our skill levels are down,” Foley said.

“You look after every training there are blokes working on their skills, there are blokes consistently doing extras in (skills). I look at the Wallaby level and it is something Stephen Larkham puts a high priority on. It is not a lack of skill or a lack of guys working on it, or training it.

“The way Australians have been playing, we have been playing quite a structured type game.

“But we allow guys to play outside of that and that’s probably the exciting thing, to play a hybrid game there.

“For us it is probably picking and choosing the times we are playing it. Sometimes we go all out trying to play that offload or unstructured football and a bit to our detriment. It is just finding the right balance.”

Originally published as Quade Cooper’s return ‘great for Australian rugby’, says flyhalf rival Bernard Foley