Quade Cooper applauds James O’Connor for his brilliant show against Barbarians – Rugby News
Quade Cooper, fly-half for Wallabies, has applauded James O’Connor for his tremendous performance against Barbarians. Australia trounced the Barbarians by a monstrous difference of 60-11 in a test match played on November 26, at Twickenham. Cooper appreciated
O’Connor and told the media on November 28, that he was great in Twickenham.
The 21-year-old O’Connor filled in for Cooper, who has been suffering from a knee injury, against the star studded team of Barbarians and added 23 individual points in the total. He contributed seven conversions, two penalties and one drop goal in his teams’
impressive victory.
In their match against the Barbarians, two Wallabies players were under immense pressure to deliver. This included skipper Will Genia and James O’Connor. Scrum-half Genia replaced James Horwill as captain whereas O’Connor, who normally plays at centre and
wings’ positions, was given the number 10 jersey. Australia had suffered with the same position during Rugby World Cup as they failed to avail the opportunities offered to them on penalties and conversions goals.
However, James O’Connor responded to his selectors call to his best and gave almost 100% results. He scored seven conversion goals out of eight efforts and remained flawless with penalty goal chances. He received great admiration from his team-mates including
Quade Cooper after the match for his superb display of foot works.
Talking to the reporters, Cooper admired the confidence of O’Connor and said that he played exceptionally well in the contest. He added that, “He did great and it was great to see him play with a lot of confidence. Coming in off the wing was something that
he wanted to do to get his hands on the ball more and to see him running around - making breaks left, right and centre - it was good.”
He also stated that, “It's going to be a whole new level up against the Welsh in front of a passionate crowd but James will definitely rise to that occasion. They've just got to soak it up and still play running rugby.”
James O’Connor has represented his team in 27 tests in international career.
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