Rennie impressed with mature Cooper Wallabies cleared for NZ entry

By Iain PaytenUpdated July 27, 2021 â€" 1.27pmfirst published July 26, 2021 â€" 5.13pm

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie stressed the importance of good character when he sat down with Quade Cooper for a coffee last week and got his first good look, up close, of the enigmatic playmaker.

After a decade of watching Cooper from afar, and occasionally coaching against him, Rennie’s knowledge of the Wallaby most New Zealanders love to hate had been gleaned “mostly through the media”.

“It’s very similar to James O’Connor, in fact,” Rennie said.

But as Rennie came to realise with O’Connor, reality and perception don’t always marry up.

And after deciding he would call in Cooper to the Wallabies squad to help with training numbers, and potentially cover an injury crisis, Rennie watched the 33-year-old train with the squad in Queensland on Monday, and then talk with the media. He liked what he saw.

“You have only got to listen to what he has been saying,” Rennie said. “Obviously he has learned a lot with those experiences and matured.

Quade Cooper back in the swing at Wallabies training.Credit:Andrew Phan/Wallabies media

“My knowledge of Quade and my knowledge of James was mostly through the media. I coached against both of those boys and respected them as players. It has been good to get to know them.”

With Cooper on leave in Brisbane from his Japanese club Kintetsu Liners, text messages about the potential to help with training numbers led to a catch up. Whether Cooper’s chequered history with Australian coaches â€" or having slammed the Wallabies culture as “toxic” in 2012 â€" was in Rennie’s mind or not, the Wallabies coach spelt out he wanted from Cooper.

“Certainly in the conversation we had last week I talked a lot about the importance of character around this group,” Rennie said.

“We have a young group of men who are impressionable and really need Quade to come in and be a real positive influence. As you can tell from how he has spoken today, he is highly motivated. We saw him running around this morning and he looked as sharp as ever, to me.”

Still got it ....33-year-old Cooper fires a pass.Credit:Andrew Phan/Wallabies media

Given O’Connor has been ruled out for the Bledisloe Cup, and New Zealand will close the boomgate on Australian players after they travel over on Friday, Cooper will stay with the Wallabies for the next month.

His primary role will be on the training paddock but if catastrophe somehow strikes Noah Lolesio, Matt To’omua and Reece Hodge in a short space of time, the thinking is 70-Test Cooper won’t be daunted by the Test arena.

Cooper hasn’t played a Test since 2017 but he is still fit and in form, having played in Japan since leaving Australia in 2019.

“I didn’t ever expect to be in the position so I am very grateful for the opportunity and to be back in this environment,” Cooper said. “It is one of those things, you try and keep working away and try and grow each day and then an opportunity like this presented itself. It is just a matter of making sure you are available and you’re ready.”

Cooper said he was keen to try and help out Lolesio, the incumbent No.10, with the hard-earned lessons of his career.

“His composure at the end of those Test matches, to be able to nail those kicks at goal [to win the Wallabies-France series], already shows a steady resolve in the kid,” Cooper said.

“Just to be able to spend the day out here with him today, he is a guy who is eager to learn and has a strong head on him.”

The Bledisloe Cup schedule remains up in the air. A plan to move the third Test in Wellington on August 28 forward to the 14th appears to be blocked by the fact a beer festival has been booked at Sky Stadium.

Rennie said the third Test may end up having to be delayed until after the Rugby Championship is completed in early October.

But amid murmurs of a push for all three Tests to be played in New Zealand, Rennie remained staunch.

“Auckland is locked in on the 7th [of August] and I think Perth is locked in on the 21st,” Rennie said. “Both games have sold an enormous number of tickets.”

Wallabies granted ‘economic exemption’ to enter New Zealand for Eden Park Bledisloe match

The Wallabies have been granted an “economic exemption” to enter New Zealand so a Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park on August 7 can go ahead.

New Zealand’s Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson issued a statement on Tuesday detailing the Government’s decision to allow the Australian rugby team through New Zealand’s border â€" after it was closed to trans-Tasman travel last week.

The Wallabies players will arrive on a charter flight from Queensland on Friday morning, within a week-long window allowing a quarantine-free return to New Zealand, for people returning from all Australian states but New South Wales.

“This is important economically. A test match is estimated to be worth between $17-20 million in spending for host regions, while the broadcast rights provide much needed income for the sport, which positively effects all levels of the game,” Robertson said in the statement.

“Test rugby between the All Blacks and the Wallabies is keenly anticipated by New Zealanders, and I welcome the decision to allow the Australian team to travel given the game was less than two weeks away when trans-Tasman travel was suspended.”

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall granted the exemption in lieu the Minister for the Covid-19 Response, Chris Hipkins, who was on leave. Cabinet authorised the minister to consider exemptions on a case-by-case basis for non-New Zealand residents “for events which had significant economic impacts”, when it shut the bubble on Friday.

Quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand was halted for eight weeks due to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 from a severe outbreak in New South Wales to other Australian states. The closure of the bubble has thrown the Bledisloe Cup schedule into disarray.

“The Wallabies have been operating in their own bubble for some time, and will travel from their base in Queensland on a charter flight to Auckland on Friday morning. They will have to fulfil all normal obligations for travel including negative pre-departure tests within 72 hours of their travel,” Robertson said in the statement.

“This decision was not taken lightly by the Government and given the Wallabies use of a charter flight, there is no restriction on public access to a return flight to New Zealand.”

New Zealand Rugby had confirmed the August 7 match at Eden Park would go ahead late on Monday afternoon, however other matches scheduled for the Bledisloe Cup remained uncertain.

A match in Wellington, initially scheduled for August 28, was now intended to be played on August 14, or around that date. Complicating matters was the Beervana beer festival, due to take place at Sky Stadium on August 13 and 14.

NZ Rugby general manager Chris Lendrum told media on a conference call on Monday that the Eden Park was green-lighted as the Wallabies had been granted the exemption necessary to enter New Zealand. They hoped to confirm a second Bledisloe match, preferably in Wellington, by the end of this week.

A Perth match on August 21 was expected to go ahead.

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Iain Payten is Deputy Sports Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.

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