Wallabies veteran Quade Cooper will face up to Argentina for the first time this weekend since he ruptured his Achilles last season in a horror injury.
Cooper suffered the unlucky injury last year despite not taking any contact whilst running with the ball against Los Pumas in Argentina.
Sorry to see Quade Cooper go down with a left achilles rupture last night – typical non-contact pushing off mechanism. Has dealt with calf issues in recent times. Repair surgery ahead with a usual 6-8 month recovery period, wish him the best pic.twitter.com/bzzXznGS1y
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 6, 2022
There were fears he would not make it back on the field in time to find form for the Rugby World Cup but his diligent rehab saw him return to Test rugby last weekend against the Springboks.
Whilst Cooper was back on the field in the Test arena it proved to be a horrid start to the second Eddie Jones era as the Wallabies went down 43-12 in front of a boisterous Loftus Versfeld crowd.
Nevertheless, the focus shifts to this weekend where Australia welcome Argentina to their backyard as they search for some much-needed momentum.
No worries ahead of the weekend
The experienced playmaker insists there are no demons ahead of this fixture as he made peace with his injury. He is just grateful to be back on the field.
“Technically, it’s [only] my third game of footy so I’m excited to have the opportunity to get back out there,” Cooper told AAP.
“I’ve been on the field so if I’m on the field I’m where I need to be. In terms of it being the corresponding game [from last year’s injury], I’m looking forward to that challenge.
“It’s similar to the first time I ran again. My first running session I grabbed the boots that I hurt my Achilles in and put them straight back on.
“In the past, I may have thrown the boots out when I got injured rather than thinking ‘hey, the boots, game and team are irrelevant, it’s the work that you’ve done and do each day to put you in the position to perform’.”
The Wallabies team is set to be announced on Thursday and it will be interesting to see if Cooper gets another start considering the impressive cameo from last week’s debutant Carter Gordon.
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