First-five Quade Cooper is poised for a shock return to the Australian rugby side for the third and final Bledisloe Cup test against the All Blacks in Perth on Sunday.
NZ-born Cooper - who hasn't played a test since 2017- was called into coach Dave Rennie's Rugby Championship squad as injury cover for regular starter James O'Connor, but the absence of some regular first-choice players - including Hunter Paisami, who's attending the birth of his first child - could see the 33-year-old complete a remarkable comeback with a 71st test cap this weekend.
Three years after being discarded by Queensland Reds and demoted to club rugby, Cooper - who has played in Japan, since missing out on Michael Cheika's 2019 Rugby World Cup squad - insists he has no expectations and is simply happy to be back in the Wallabies environment.
"It hasn't been a focus of mine at all," he says. "It's not something that I’ve come in here going, 'Oh, I just have to play a test'. For me, coming in here has been about learning and the things I've been able to learn.
Rennie raves about "fantastic" Cooper's impact on the squad, admitting the Tokoroa product has entered the selection frame.
"Can't speak highly enough of him," Rennie says. "He's pretty much been running the New Zealand play, so he's been great and he's applying pressure on us for selection."
Cooper has yet to receive any indication from his coach that he may be included in the gameday squad.
"I think he keeps everybody on their toes," notes Cooper. "When we're training, the teams are always quite mixed up.
"You look around and see where Hoops [Michael Hooper] or Marika [Koroibete] is, and try and get some indication there, but other than that, the boys are just all fighting for spots."
Unfortunately for Cooper, his window of opportunity is small. O'Connor will rejoin the squad when they relocate to Queensland for the rest of the Rugby Championship schedule next week, meaning it's unclear how much longer he'll remain with the group, before returning to Japan.
"Whether I go back to Japan after this game, whether it's after the Rugby Championship, I'm not 100 percent sure just yet," says Cooper.
"I have a wealth of knowledge in terms of footballing, in terms of things I've been able to gain and learn about myself, and being back inside this environment.
"The level of skill, the level of training that we've been able to train at, I haven't had that for four years or something, since I was last inside a Wallabies squad.
"If I can grow as a man, grow as a rugby player, take that back to Japan and pass that knowledge onto other people, well then, that's a great reward for myself.
"That's where my focus is at and anything else outside of that, that's just bonuses along the way in this journey."
Join us from 6pm Sunday for live updates of the third Bledisloe Cup test between the All Blacks and Australia
