Wallabies outcast Quade Cooper says he wants to return to Australia's team setup
Controversial playmaker Quade Cooper has told Queensland Reds officials and fellow Australia players he wants to play for the Wallabies again.
The same applies to his Super Rugby and Test halves partner Will Genia, who has come to terms with the Australian Rugby Union, with a three-year deal expected to be announced early next week.
And in an extraordinary day of reconciliation for Australian rugby, a
Wallabies spokesman has confirmed that estranged Test centre Matt Giteau moved to heal his rift with Robbie Deans by texting the Wallabies coach at the height of the Australian team's injury crisis to offer his services in any capacity he was needed.
Giteau's manager, Rob Smith, said the Toulon-based 92-Test veteran had been concerned by how hard the Wallabies had been hit by injury and only wanted to help, even if that meant going on next month's tour of Europe and filling a spot on the bench.
"Matt is 100 per cent behind the Wallabies and he reached out, knowing that the rules as they now stand would prohibit overseas-based players being selected for Australia," Smith said.
It is understood Deans sent an appreciative reply in which he complimented Giteau on his form in France's Top 14 competition. But no decision will be taken on whether an approach will even be made to the ARU board to reconsider its longstanding ban on the selection of overseas-based Australians until after Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup Test in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, it is understood moves are under way to bring Cooper back into the Wallabies fold, even though he will face an ARU Code of Conduct hearing within the next fortnight.
In an explosive interview on Fox Sports'
The Rugby Club last month, Cooper alienated almost all of his Australian teammates by announcing he did not want to play for the Wallabies.
But Queensland Reds chief executive Jim Carmichael, who has met with Cooper every week since the player openly broke with Deans by tweeting that the environment within the Wallabies was "toxic", told The Weekend Australian that the Reds playmaker had told him and Wallabies captains James Horwill and Genia he still wanted to play for Australia.
Watch the Wallabies take on the All Blacks LIVE from 8pm (EDT) on Saturday on Fox Sports 3HD.
"He genuinely wants to play for the Reds and the Wallabies," Carmichael said. "He absolutely believes it is a privilege to represent his country and that he made a mistake in what he said."
Cooper is understood to have met with the ARU's integrity officer Phil Thompson and explained to him that he was so nervous when he appeared on The Rugby Club that when asked whether he was prepared to play for Australia that weekend, he had said no.
"What Quade has told me he meant to say was that he was in no state then, because he was feeling so despondent, to play for Australia," Carmichael said. The Reds boss said Cooper had conveyed the same message to other Reds in the Wallabies.
"I can't speak for the other (non-Queensland) Wallabies but our group think highly of him," he said.
Sources also have confirmed that Genia was angry about a newspaper report this week that he was considering taking a break from Australian rugby to play in Japan. The story is understood not to have originated from Genia or his manager.
The good news for Australia is that the brilliant Test halfback, who months ago signed a three-year deal to stay with the Reds - after withdrawing from a deal with the Western Force - has agreed to terms with the ARU.
Read more:
[URL='http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wallabies/wallabies-outcast-quade-cooper-says-he-wants-to-return-to-australias-team-setup/story-e6frf55l-1226499752912#ixzz29mvz3jWc[/QUOTE']http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wallabies/wallabies-outcast-quade-cooper-says-he-wants-to-return-to-australias-team-setup/story-e6frf55l-1226499752912#ixzz29mvz3jWc[/URL]
