Wallabies star Quade Cooper is set to become the third high profile player to pull out of Australia’s messy Spring tour, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The SMH reported that Cooper was yet to tell the Wallabies that he would prioritise his Japanese club commitments with Kintetsu Liners over the three Test tour of the United Kingdom, which starts with a clash against Scotland on November 8 (AEDT).
But that conversation “will be a formality,” according to the SMH, with the reborn five-eighth joining fellow Japan-based players Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon in pulling out of the tour to participate in their club preseasons.
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Cooper’s withdrawal would leave the Wallabies painfully short at five-eighth.
James O’Connor would be the obvious starter but Reece Hodge’s pectoral injury thins the back-up options and the Wallabies may be forced to issue an SOS to either veteran Kurtley Beale, youngster Noah Lolesio or perhaps both.
Former Wallabies prop Ben Darwin bemoaned the club versus country debacle on Twitter.
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The Wallabies have the right to select players in November under World Rugby’s regulation nine but coach Dave Rennie said the situation was complex.
“Right from the start the boys wanted the blessing of the club to tour,” Rennie told reporters yesterday.
“We were disappointed obviously, Samu in particular had played five Tests, been excellent on and off the field.
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“I know these boys have loved their time in the environment.
“In Quade’s case and Samu’s they’ve been away for quite a long time.
“Obviously Sean spent less time in our environment. They did mention when we were at Royal Pines that they were nervous at how their clubs would respond to them touring and they were keen to get their blessing to do that…
“We’ve made contact with Kurtley, and we’ve had conversations with Kurtley over a period of time, he’s made it really clear his desire to be a Wallaby again and with the introduction of some of the guys he played with previously he was pretty excited.
“We had a conversation yesterday around that. We’ll need more than one (replacement).
“But we’ve got to get board approval to get more overseas-based players because our preference is not to drag guys overs from Australia…
“COVID’s thrown a lot of curveballs at us. It’s disappointing.
“They’re guys we’ve really enjoyed in our environment and we were keen to get a bit more out of them.
“They’ve made their call based on the desire of the clubs and we’ve just got to get on with things.”
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