Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has backed enigmatic five-eighth Quade Cooper to make a full recovery from knee surgery, but concedes the playmaker is 'unlikely' to feature in any of the June Tests against Scotland and Wales.
Cooper ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the first half of the Bronze playoff against Wales in October, capping off a disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign for the Kiwi-born Wallaby.
The 23-year-old is expected to make his comeback for the Reds by early May, however Deans made it clear he won't expose his star playmaker to Test match rugby prematurely.
"Unlikely, but the likelihood is that he will be back playing prior to that, but when remains to be seen," Deans said when asked if Cooper will feature in the one-off Test against the Scots or any of the three fixtures against Wales.
"He's only just started running again obviously so there's a lot of hurdles he's got to clear without setback but the early indications are very good."
"The critical thing for Quade in his words is when he comes back he wants to be more than ready, so he's not going to rush back just simply to be back which is a good outlook."
"Quade's going well, I watched him run yesterday, he's in good spirits and he's of no doubt that the adversity he's been through will make him stronger ... he wants to come back fitter than ever and stronger than ever."
Asked if he has conducted a post-World Cup debrief with Cooper, who struggled under the intense scrutiny after earning public enemy No.1 status in New Zealand, Deans replied: "Immediately after the semi-final (loss to the All Blacks) we obviously spent a bit of time together but after that we didn't have a lot of opportunity because we went off shore and Quade had his operation."
"I caught up with him yesterday and spent quite a bit of time with him ... so that was good and we'll have a lot of dialogue from this point forward."
Meanwhile, Deans concedes the extended Super Rugby season, which includes a four-week break in June and will now finish in early August instead of May, will stretch the Wallabies to the limit.
Australia will play Scotland on Newcastle on Tuesday, June 5 before meeting Wales on consecutive Saturdays in a three-Test series.
"Four Tests in three weeks, it's unprecedented, so it's going to test our depth," Deans said.
"We're going to have Super Rugby on Saturday followed by a Test match against Scotland on a Tuesday, followed by a Test match against Wales on the following Saturday."
"That's going to take a lot of dialogue (with the Super franchises) around management of the playing group and awareness of where players are at in terms of their state of wellbeing."
"It will test our depth but it'll also provide some opportunity because clearly no player can go Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, with two of them being Test matches."
Meanwhile, Deans admits wrestling the Bledisloe Cup from New Zealand's grasp for the first time in a decade is his top priority in 2012.
"It's the most prized piece of silverware available this year and we haven't had it since 2002, and haven't won it since 2001," he said.
"It's a ridiculous stat and it's obviously one that we would like to change."