Veteran fly-half Quade Cooper has underlined his desire to be the first-choice pivot for the Wallabies for their first game of the Test season against the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld in July.
Cooper has recently recovered from a ruptured achilles that has kept him on the sidelines for the most part since August last year.
The flair-filled playmaker has emerged as a strong candidate to steer the Wallabies from fly-half in the build-up to the World Cup as Eddie Jones’ men eye a ‘smash and grab’ at the global showpiece.
Clear desire
The Japan-based star is looking to work hard on his preparation and he believes the rest will take care of itself.
“I 100% want to wear the No.10 jersey,” Cooper said.
“But I also know that the other boys are in that same mindset. So the respect aspect there is to compete as hard as possible for each jersey, but also support our teammates if they’re selected.
“I just focus on doing what I can to be the best that I can in these camps, and let the powers that be look after those types of decisions.”
Cooper believes preparation is absolutely vital in building positive habits that aid performance.
“The game, as I said, is the easy part,” he said.
“It’s (the) preparation years before, months and months before, that will set you up to be able to do well at the World Cup.
“The habits that I’ve put in place over the past four or five years will allow me to perform and continue to perform throughout the year.”
World Cup target
Jones appears to have built a positive energy around rugby union in Australia and is looking to build belief that even though he has only recently joined the side that they can go on and win the global tournament.
Cooper feels it all comes down to producing a string of three good performances at the back end of the tournament.
“The World Cup is the best teams in the World at the same place at the same time,” he said.
“The reality is it’ll come down to three games. It’ll come down to getting through your pool, and then being able to stay locked in and focused.”
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