Quade Cooper back enjoying club success with Toulon after World Cup disappointment
Australian says he hoped for more game time during the Wallabies’ RWC campaign
Mercurial Quade Cooper was little used at the World Cup, Australia coach Michael Cheika opting for the steadier game of an in-form Bernard Foley as the Wallabies finished runners-up to trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand after a fine campaign.
I’ve been training for the last 12 weeks to play games. I wanted to come here as soon as possible after the World Cup to play rugby
But Cooper said the frustration of not pulling on the green and gold jersey as much as he would have liked to at the World Cup was well and truly behind him as he started his Top 14 adventure in Toulon’s emphatic 52-8 victory over Montpellier on Saturday.
“I was disappointed not to get more game time at the World Cup,” admitted the New Zealand-born Cooper, who looked fit playing the full 80 minutes at a sun-kissed Stade Felix-Mayol in southern France.
“I’ve been training for the last 12 weeks to play games. I wanted to come here as soon as possible after the World Cup to play rugby.
“I was very happy and fortunate to play today. The players around me, well there are world class players there and they made the transition very easy, so I just had to fit in there and try and add my own personal touches to that.
“You always expect more of yourself. But each week you have to fit in around the team and this week I didn’t have to do any more. A lot of the guys were playing some very good football so first game in, I was just riding off the back of that.