NZ fed-up with Quade Cooper: Wilson

Quade Cooper was booed throughout Australia's loss to Ireland. Photo / Getty Images

All Blacks legend Stu Wilson has issued a warning to Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper: don't you dare touch our prized jewel.

Cooper has hardly endeared himself to the New Zealand rugby public, following a series of niggling off-the-ball incidents with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.

After McCaw received a mischievous knee to the head from Cooper in the All Blacks' Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane, the New Zealand-born Australian firmly established himself as "public enemy number one". Every touch of the ball by Cooper on Saturday against Ireland was greeted with boos from the Eden Park crowd.

But Wilson says Cooper can expect nothing less from a fed-up nation.

"Anyone that touches the prize jewel in rugby - which at the moment is Richie McCaw - you start pissing around like Quade Cooper has done and you have to accept the consequences in this country."

McCaw is set to make his 100th All Blacks appearance against France this weekend. Wilson says McCaw is key to the team's chances, as shown by his "phenomenal" winning record - he has won 54 of his 62 matches as captain (87 per cent).

He added Cooper could expect "raspberries for the whole tournament" if he continued with his antics.

"If he doesn't know that, and the Australian Rugby Union doesn't know that, they are dumber than I thought they were.

"The only person who has come out [against Cooper] is Nick Farr-Jones - and he is a World Cup-winning captain for Australia."

Wallaby great Farr-Jones, who lifted the Webb Ellis trophy in 1991, last week labelled Cooper a "boofhead" and a "dope" over the incidents.

He cautioned that constant pestering of the All Blacks captain could come back to haunt the Wallabies.

While Cooper chose to take Farr-Jones' comments in a "positive manner", Wilson is having none of it.
"You just don't piss with the crown jewel. Not over here, not in our back yard!"