Quade Cooper's view on Wallabies' 'hardest game' of the Rugby ...

Former Australia fly-half Quade Cooper is “super excited” to see how the Wallabies perform against the Springboks in their Rugby Championship opener in Brisbane on Saturday.

The mercurial playmaker is currently plying his trade at Japanese club Hanazono Kintetsu Liners but still represented his country as recently as last year, with his final Test being the Wallabies’ 23-20 Bledisloe Cup defeat to the All Blacks in Dunedin.

After that result, former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones omitted him from his squad for their Rugby World Cup campaign.

Despite that setback, Cooper still has a keen interest in the Wallabies’ fortunes and is looking forward to seeing how they fare against the world champions. He feels Saturday’s encounter will be a good yardstick to see the progress his former team has made under their new head coach, Joe Schmidt.

Under the former Ireland boss’ mentorship, Australia have made a good start to their 2024 international campaign with back-to-back victories against Wales before also beating Georgia in a one-off Test.

Cooper has been impressed by the progress made under Schmidt’s mentorship but believes Australia face an acid test against the Springboks this weekend.

When asked for his thoughts on Schmidt and what can be expected from the Wallabies this weekend, he revealed that he is in the dark on both fronts.

“I’m in the same boat as you. Like, I’ve never spoken to him,” Cooper told the Behind the Ruck podcast.

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“I have no idea, you know. So, I’m just as excited as you guys to see what Joe Schmidt and the boys can bring out on this weekend against the Springboks.”

While Cooper admitted that Schmidt and his troops are facing their toughest assignment of the year, he feels it’s imperative that they spring some surprises against the Boks.

“We know that we can’t just turn up there and try and match them physically,” he said. “We’ve got to match them physically, but we’ve got to play our own style and have a few things up our sleeve to be able to get on top of them.

“Because it’s going to be a very difficult game. And it’s going to be the hardest game that a lot of these guys have ever played.

“So I’m super excited to see what happens.”

Although it’s a huge task against the back-to-back world champions, Cooper revealed that there is a good vibe from Wallabies supporters in the build-up to the game at Suncorp Stadium.

“I’ve been in Sydney a lot for the past couple of weeks” said the 36-year-old. “But there’s definitely a good feel amongst the public, people that I’ve spoken to, obviously with the changing of coaches.

“We’ve got some bright, young, talented stars coming through. So I’m excited to see those boys in action.

“We’ve been able to build, like having two games against Wales who are coming off some of the worst results in their history. And then having a tough hit out against Georgia who are on the rise.

“So if you think about it like that, now we’re going to have true tests to be able to see where we are against the world champs and the best in the world at home, which is for us is the best possible outcome.”

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