Robbie Deans keeps Quade Cooper focused on the task at hand © Getty Images

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Matches: South Africa 44 - 31 Australia

Players/Officials: Quade Cooper | Robbie Deans | Matt Giteau

Tournaments/Tours: Tri Nations

Teams: Australia | South Africa

Rugby league target Quade Cooper could let his team-mates down if he is distracted by his uncertain future when the Wallabies take on the Springboks - that's the message from coach Robbie Deans ahead of Australia's Tri-Nations clash on Saturday.

Cooper's return from suspension is likely to be the only change to the Wallabies side looking to continue South Africa's dreadful Tri-Nations campaign in Pretoria, but Deans is wary that the very public pursuit of Cooper by the Parramatta Eels could derail not just his star player but his whole team if it affects the fly-half's on-field focus.

Before the Wallabies left Australia for South Africa last week both rugby codes were whipped into a frenzy by the Eels' lucrative offer to make Cooper abandon the Australian Rugby Union just a year out from the World Cup. It's still uncertain whether Cooper will make the switch, and he remains silent on the matter.

While Deans admitted the tour to South Africa had helped the team escape the issue somewhat, he doesn't want to see it harm his side's chances of winning the Mandela Challenge Plate and keeping the Springboks winless in this year's Tri-Nations.

''If any of the peripheral stuff is in the forefront of his mind, it will bite him and it will bite the team,'' Deans told the Sydney Morning Herald. ''Hopefully, that is not the case. Being here is advantageous because there is less profile and less interest.''

Cooper is expected to resume the No.10 role, shifting Matt Giteau out to inside-centre in place of Anthony Faingaa in the only change from the team which lost 20-10 to the All Blacks in Christchurch.

He missed both of Australia's Bledisloe Cup defeats due to a two-match ban for a dangerous tackle he performed in his side's win over the Springboks in Brisbane. Deans is concerned Cooper's lack of rugby, combined with the fact his one Tri-Nations match did come against Saturday's opposition, could make for a tough return to the fray at Loftus Versfeld.

''It won't be easy for him against the Springboks because he hasn't been in rugby for a few weeks,'' Deans said. ''So to go from nothing into the Tri Nations fixture where there is a lot of intensity and a lot at stake will be hard. The Springboks won't make his life easy either. They've got the background of playing against him in Brisbane. They would have taken out of that some ideas of how to make his life difficult.''

Deans is expected to name his team on Thursday.