Quade Cooper and Matthew Giteau of the Wallabies talk during The Rugby Championship match between the Australian Wallabies and the South Africa Springboks. Photo / AP.
Stephen Larkham, one of the finest No. 10s in rugby history, has gone on to the attack in an effort to defend Quade Cooper's recent display at Eden Park.
Since Larkham is the Wallabies' attack coach for the World Cup, this is hardly a surprise. But he put up a
spirited defence of the controversial pivot.
Larkham told The Australian the Wallabies dominated the first 25 minutes against the All Blacks, and Cooper had been highly influential in that. Cooper made just two mistakes in the game, he said.
"He threw one pass around the back and he made that head-high tackle (on Aaron Smith)," Larkham said.
"Throughout the rest of the game we didn't have a lot of ball. He was very clear with the boys out on the field and his skills were where they needed to be.
