‘We should help each other’: Quade Cooper puts rivalry aside to mentor Marcus Smith
The Aussie veteran is set to line-up against 23-year-old Marcus Smith this winter but is also focused on ensuring the talented fly-half goes on to have a long international career.
Quade Cooper talks about the generation of “electric, entertaining” fly halves that have followed him into the Test arena with the air of a protective, encouraging godfather. Last year the Australia international outlined the importance of Marcus Smith, Finn Russell and Richie Mo’unga being “empowered” to play like they do, rather than labelled as unreliable mavericks.
Cooper, who spent four years in the international wilderness from 2017 to 2021, has laboured at times under that perception. The 34-year-old has now taken his commitment to the playmaking craft to the next level by forging a relationship with Smith – via Instagram – that defies the deep-lying Anglo-Australian rivalry.
Smith, 23, believes that he has benefited enormously from sharing ideas and taking on board advice from his opposite man in England’s forthcoming three-Test series against Australia.
“He’s helped me a lot,” Smith said. “It’s his mindset. He’s taught me a few things: different ways to see the game; the types of things he looks for when he’s analysing opposition and the way he thinks when he makes a mistake.”
Australia have not beaten England since the 2015 World Cup but Cooper, 11 years Smith’s senior, had no qualms about sharing his experience with England’s fly half, whom he views less as a rival and more as a kindred spirit. Cooper recognises the role that he can play in mentoring the next generation, just as he would have loved the opportunity to learn from Carlos Spencer, the former All Blacks fly half.
“We are all here to help each other grow,” Cooper said. “We want the sport to flourish and our peers and counterparts to flourish. If you are of the mindset of trying to hold things back from other people and trying to stunt someone else’s growth, that is such a negative way to live your life.
“The luxury of nowadays is we have access to those type of people. When I was young you couldn’t just send Carlos Spencer an Instagram DM [direct message] and chat to him. You couldn’t get in contact with these guys, everything was out of reach. It is being able to have communication both ways and being able to learn from them and understand what goes through their head, what makes them tick, and that is a brilliant thing to have.”
The relationship with Smith came through Ben Tapuai, a friend of Cooper’s who played at Harlequins with Smith. “Marcus followed me on Instagram and we ended up trading a few messages. I am big fan of the way he plays, he is a great kid, a great man and my friends in that team could not speak highly enough of him.”
At Harlequins, Smith thrives alongside a powerful inside centre in Andre Esterhuizen. With England, he is set to forge a playmaking double act with Owen Farrell in the three-Test series, which starts in Perth on Saturday.
“Having a guy like Owen Farrell outside of Marcus would take a lot of pressure off him in terms of game-calling, being his eyes and ears,” Cooper said. “You have got a fly half and second five-eighth. Having those two, who are genuine No 10s, makes for a difficult task trying to work out where the main ball-playing source is going to come from.”
Originally published as ‘We should help each other’: Quade Cooper puts rivalry aside to mentor Marcus Smith
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