No place for Quade Cooper in Australia's sevens team in Rio
Last Updated: 05/05/16 1:47pm
France-based fly-half Quade Cooper will not play for Australia's sevens team at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, coach Andy Friend has revealed.
Cooper, who has played 58 Tests since 2008, was left out of the final two IRB World Series 7s tournaments in Paris and London later this month, the last major dress rehearsals ahead of the Games in Brazil which run from August 5-21.
Friend said: "We just haven't had the opportunity to work with him as much as we would have liked over the past five months.
"Each day I have a group of 20-plus players working on different structures and patterns of play and I don't think we would have got the very best out of Quade had we just thrown him into a tournament with limited preparation - particularly for an event as momentous as the Olympics.
"Although we are still a few months out from the Games, I think it offers the fairest outcome for everyone by making the call now.
"Quade can channel his energies into Toulon while we can enter the next phase of our preparations for Rio knowing the direction we want to take."
Although Cooper played in two sevens matches in Las Vegas and Vancouver, his Olympic chances were hampered by complications over his release from Toulon and a lack of playing time.
