New Zealand-born Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper has revealed how conflicted he first felt facing the All Blacks and his childhood rugby hero, Richie McCaw.
The two players regularly butted heads during clashes between Australia and New Zealand, yet Cooper has opened up on how he actually grew up idolising McCaw, and why he had to convince himself to dislike the Kiwi legend.
“That’s where all my run-ins with Richie McCaw and stuff sort of stem from,” the 34-year-old Cooper told the Bloke in a Bar podcast.
“I’ve spoken to him since all of the issues and that, but I idolised him growing up. To every New Zealander, that was the dude, and you just wanted to meet him. But now I’m playing for Australia.
“In the Australian locker room and stuff like this, everybody is the opposite, they just want to kill him and that.
“I’m like, ‘He’s my favourite player, him and Dan Carter.’ I kind of was like, ‘I’ve got to develop this, I’ve got to hate him too’.”
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Their on-field feud really ignited during a 2010 Bledisloe Test in Hong Kong when Cooper provoked McCaw after James O’Connor’s match-winning try.
“In the game in Hong Kong, I cleaned him out, and he’s on the ground… I’m sort of standing over him, and he just kicks off with his foot to get me off,” the Aussie said.
“I was like, ‘Oh, he kicked me.’ I sort of said a few words to him … In my head, I just wanted to get him back.
“We ended up scoring the try that tied the game in overtime, and he made the tackle on [James] O’Connor as he was sort of falling over, and I came flying in, and I gave him a shove. That’s what kicked that off.
“I gave him a shove and said some words to him, and then [Mils] Muliaina, a few other boys came in and pushed me off.
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“In my head, when I look back, that was just my emotion that I had built up to have some type of motivation against this guy.
“I remember walking off the field, and I was so embarrassed and disappointed. I was like, ‘How do I go and get a photo with him now, because he thinks I’m a little p—k and hates me?’ It was a real weird situation.”
Cooper, who is currently rehabbing a long-term achilles injury and is in a race against time to avoid being ruled out of this year’s World Cup, also said he felt torn when facing the haka.
“The first time standing in front of the haka was a weird feeling,” he added. “I don’t hate the haka. I actually love it. Every time I watch it and see it now I get goosebumps.”
Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images
