Inside how the Wallabies turned build-up from hell into win from heaven

By Georgina Robinson

Five minutes before James O’Connor left the Duxton Hotel in Perth for a pre-game promotional event on Saturday afternoon, he lent Quade Cooper his metal-stud boots.

It was two hours and 15 minutes before kick-off in the first Test between Australia and England.

As a non-playing member of the Wallabies squad, having missed selection, O’Connor was in his dress clothes, called ‘number ones’. Chinos, dress shirt, Wallabies blazer, tan dress shoes. He was off early to Optus Stadium, with the other players who’d missed out, to press the flesh with fans and corporate types, leaving the match-day 23 to focus on the task ahead.

Quade Cooper injured himself in the warm-up ahead of Australia’s first Test against England.Credit:Getty

A week earlier O’Connor had been filthy to learn he’d been overlooked for the match squad but had quickly put his personal disappointment behind him to front up for a big week of training. By Saturday afternoon, noting commentary about the slippery Optus Stadium surface during the second State of Origin clash six days prior, he’d decided Cooper could do with the extra grip metal studs could provide. Being the same size, he’d given them to Cooper as he walked out to a waiting car.

It was a spur of the moment call – one of a few last Saturday – that meant when the proverbial began to hit the fan on the field that evening, the Wallabies were in a position to regroup and claim a memorable Test win.

“I was actually out doing games with the kids outside – passing, signing autographs, etcetera,” O’Connor told the Herald. “Then I went up to the [corporate] boxes for an hour to do some Q&As and once we finished that I was literally heading to my seat and, as I cut across the pitch, [team manager Chris Webb] caught my eye and said ‘you better strap up mate, looks like Quadey’s blown a gasket’.”

Things go wrong in Test rugby. Teams must adapt. On the way to the 1999 World Cup semi-final at Twickenham, Wallabies great Tim Horan lay prone in the back of the team bus, listless after a violent bout of gastro. His illness was kept secret from all but a handful of players. He ate a banana on the way to the stadium, then put in a man-of-the-match performance to help seal a spot in the final.

Six years later, in Perth, uncapped centre Adam Ashley-Cooper was called down from the stands at Subiaco Oval, downing a beer along the way, to run on for his Test debut in place of Elton Flatley, who’d withdrawn with blurred vision 10 minutes before kick-off.

What set Saturday’s drama apart was that it was all captured and broadcast live by the Stan Sport cameras. The moment Cooper knew he was cooked; the look on Noah Lolesio’s face as he took the field as Australia’s starting five-eighth, with 10 minutes’ notice; O’Connor’s bemusement as he clutched his folded number ones in the sheds, grateful for those long studs, and a quiet moment of consolation between Cooper and Sonny Bill Williams as play got under way on the pitch. At times uncomfortably intimate, the access gave viewers at home a front-row seat to the agony and ecstasy of the Wallabies miraculous 30-28 win.

“It’s always good playing against England, they’re a tough team, and to be able to play at home,” Cooper said, 35 minutes before the match started. “This is a beautiful stadium as well.”

Cooper, a cool customer, had agreed to be mic’d up for an interview during the warm-up period on the pitch:

There was no sign of injury at this point, as Cooper went on to kick the ball into touch and host Nick McArdle, on the pitch with Horan, threw to commentator and analyst Morgan Turinui.

Seven minutes later there is a glimpse of Cooper sitting down in the distance, receiving medical attention while, in the foreground, sideline eyes Williams and Andrew Mehrtens dissect the earlier New Zealand vs Ireland Test at Eden Park.

Five minutes later – 22 minutes to go – viewers see Cooper in a huddle with coach Dave Rennie, team doctor Sharron Flahive and physiotherapist Keiran Cleary. Cooper appears to mouth an expletive. A chill goes down the spines of attentive fans.

McArdle notes the vision but it’s another two minutes before he confirms what viewers already suspect. “Quade Cooper is out, Noah Lolesio will start at 10 for the Wallabies tonight,” he says.

The catastrophe unfolds. Lolesio, a 10-Test playmaker at 22, has played six minutes of Test rugby after a lacklustre two starts in the No.10 jersey against New Zealand last year. Despite a strong season with the Brumbies, he makes a dubious field goal attempt in the Super Rugby semi-final. On Thursday last week he is the surprise bench choice over the versatile and ice-cool O’Connor.

Few watching believe the Wallabies are a chance against Eddie Jones’s England at this point. Australia came to Perth without rampaging prop Taniela Tupou, which was bad enough. Now their next best weapon – Cooper’s partnership with inside centre Samu Kerevi – is scratched.

But the show must go on.

“I was pretty shocked when ‘Rens’ [Rennie] tapped me on the shoulder and told me I was starting. It was unfortunate for Quade, it would have been a tough call for him,” Lolesio said on Sunday.

Team manager Webb, meanwhile, puts the call out for O’Connor. Commentator Greg Clark has just interviewed him in the corporate suites and the Queenslander is about to find his seat.

Webb grabs him and he turns heel back into the dressing room, swapping the ‘ones’ for the national strip and, presumably, retrieving his boots from Cooper. As a matter of course, every player, even those donning chinos for the night, pops their mouth guard in their bag.

This moment is captured by the camera in the Wallabies dressing room. Still clutching his hastily folded chinos and shirt, O’Connor takes well-wishes from teammates Lolesio and Jordan Petaia, while Cooper takes a seat behind him, disconsolate.

“Going through my head was ‘I know the plan, I’ve practised being calm in the chaos, so enjoy the moment, what an opportunity’,” O’Connor revealed.

Then a moment of quiet brutality, 15 minutes before kick-off. Webb strides in and takes the No.10 jersey off the hook behind Cooper’s head, handing it to Lolesio. Winger Marika Koroibete makes small talk with Cooper, trying to soften the blow.

Rugby is a team sport. From a young age, players are taught the team comes first. Cooper makes way, dignified and self-contained. This moment isn’t about him. Williams notes on air that the five-eighth’s first thought was to help Lolesio.

Cooper leaves as the Wallabies change into their jerseys, laying the warm-up shirts in a pile in the middle of the dressing room. One minute later, the camera focuses on O’Connor, stretching, and sharing a ‘what are the chances’ look with Reds teammate Harry Wilson.

The cameras are banished for the next few minutes as players make their final adjustments and gather for a final team talk. Outside, Wallabies fans fidget in their seats, a few sporting gold Bobby hats in a cheeky nod to the tourists.

England captain Courtney Lawes leads out his side and Michael Hooper follows with the Australian line-up. Lolesio is captured taking in his big moment.

“To be honest I felt a lot more relaxed before I was told I was going to start,” he said of that moment. “So I think that kind of actually helped, to be honest. I just grabbed it by the horns and tried to do my best for the team.”

England kick off and the game is under way. Cooper will slip from the collective consciousness but not before the broadcast cameras give us one last glimpse of the player left behind.

Changed into his tracksuit, resting in the quiet of an empty room, Cooper rises to greet Williams, a trusted friend. It is a poignant end to the pre-match drama, but a prelude to the more than 100 minutes of madness to come.

Australia’s fullback Tom Banks is to break his arm, prop Allan Ala’alatoa will leave the field concussed and Darcy Swain will be sent off for foul play, all before half-time.

Somehow the Wallabies find a way to rise to the occasion, scrapping their way to a famous win.

It snaps an eight-Test losing streak to England and sends Australia to Brisbane with a chance to wrap up the series with a game to spare.

Cooper awaits scans on the troublesome calf muscle, his series potentially over before it began. At some point, he will find comfort in the ecosystem of a functioning team, in which his example helped Lolesio produce his most assured Test performance, and O’Connor’s maturity – and metal studs – allowed the show to go on.

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