Wales tour of Australia
Deans refrains from calling on Cooper
ESPN Staff
June 6, 2012
Reds' fly-half Quade Cooper warms up for training alongside wing Digby Ioane, ahead of his return to competitive rugby following his recovery from an anterior crucuate ligament injury at Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Australia, May 16, 2012
Quade Cooper will continue training with the Reds rather than getting a call up to the Wallabies squad © PA Photos
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Players/Officials: Quade Cooper | Robbie Deans | Mike Harris
Tournaments/Tours: Wales tour
Teams: Australia

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans insists that he will not call on Quade Cooper to face Wales on Saturday despite seeing his side crash to a shock home defeat against Scotland on Tuesday.

Cooper has hardly played competitive rugby since suffering a serious knee injury in the bronze final of the 2011 World Cup and is currently back with his side the Reds looking to re-find his top form. But following Australia's 9-6 defeat to Scotland, there have been calls for Deans to reinstate Cooper as their starting Test fly-half.

Berrick Barnes was handed the reins on Tuesday and despite the Wallabies spending most of the second-half in Scotland's half, he failed to unlock the opposition's defence. But Deans will persist with either Barnes or Mike Harris instead of calling on Cooper.

Talking of the Reds fly-half, Deans said that calling him into the Test side is "not worth the risk and it would be negligent, it could compromise him and possibly the team".

Reds back Harris started at inside centre against Scotland and although the Wallabies failed to get across the tryline on Tuesday evening, he is adamant that Australia went into the game with the right tactics in what were horrendous conditions.

"I think if any team tried to use it any more then you'd be turning it over after one or two passes," Harris said. "As you saw out there the widest it got was into that 10 channel off set-pieces because two or three transfers takes a lot of time in those sort of conditions. You've got to make sure you catch the ball and take it in to the body and then throwing it as well it can just slip out at any time... I thought we had the right tactics.

"It wasn't an option (to throw the ball around). The only times we went wide were off kicks out to the wing."

The result places huge pressure on Deans ahead of their match with Wales on Saturday. Former Wallabies legend David Campese expressed his disgust at their loss to Scotland on his Twitter account.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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