SYDNEY: Flyhalf Quade Cooper came in from the cold yesterday when Ewen McKenzie named his first squad as Wallabies coach after replacing Robbie Deans.
A quarter of McKenzie’s 40-man squad for the Rugby Championship are uncapped, with ACT Brumbies flyhalf Matt Toomua and New South Wales Waratahs number 10 Bernard Foley among them.
James Horwill will captain the Wallabies, who open the Rugby Championship, which also includes South Africa and Argentina, on August 17 against New Zealand in Sydney.
“If you have a look, there’s a bunch of guys coming into the squad who are all playmakers and the way we want to look at playing the game, we want to be able to move the ball around the park,” McKenzie said.
He added: “You need a good passing game, you need good vision. They are all attributes of the guys we’ve included in the squad so there’s a bunch of guys who can deliver in that space, so that’s what we are going to invest in.”
It would be a major surprise, however, if Cooper was not named in the playmaker role for the opening test of the tournament against the All Blacks. REUTERS
