Grand slam-winning Wallabies coach Alan Jones says he would have out of favour Quade Cooper in his Test team every week.
Cooper has not played for the Wallabies since the June Tests against Fiji, Scotland and Italy and is unlikely to be selected for the upcoming tour of Japan and Europe.
The Wallabies will be without rising backrower Jack Dempsey on the tour after he suffered a serious leg injury in the Wallabies' 31-28 win against the Barbarians at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.
Second-rowers Lukhan Tui (hamstring) and Rory Arnold (knee) are also in doubt for the tour.
Cooper captained the Jones-coached Barbarians against the Wallabies and the ex-Test coach was clearly impressed.
"I was delighted this young man could be the captain," Jones said.
"He is an outstanding player of multiple gifts and we saw that today. Directed the traffic."
Asked whether Cooper should be recalled to the Wallabies squad, Jones said: "Look, every coach has a different view. He'd be in my team. Every time.
"But not in this structure I'm going to tell you how to play stuff. How do they tell him what to play? They don't know what he is going to see when he gets out there.
"I had two young people helping me and one of them, one of the finest players who ever played for me, Brian Smith, said Quade Cooper is amazing.
"You say something and he knows 10 times more than you do. We've never bothered to find out what he does know.
"Could he contribute to the international side? Geez, we have to have a red hot side if there is no room for someone like this."
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika seemed to be looking to the future after blooding young Queensland Reds inside back Duncan Paia'aua, who directly opposed Cooper and scored two of the Wallabies' five tries against the Barbarians.
"It was a big ask for Duncan to come in and run the game," Cheika said.
"He has never played this shape before.
"It was an experience I wanted to give him because I think he is a good player and we have a stack of (No)12s. I thought it would be good to show Duncan we have an interest in him there (at five-eighth).
"I didn't have a lot of expectation. I wanted to give him experience.
"It's something he can grow into because he has a smart football mind.
"He should be much more self-confident in his ability because he is a class player."
Share
