Foley welcomes Cooper’s return

Editor

Waratahs fly-half believes Bernard Foley Quade Cooper's return to Australian rugby is good for the game and welcomed his rival's decision.

Cooper revealed on Twitter that he will leave Toulon, midway through a two-year deal with the Top 14 club, to continue his career at an undetermined Australian Super Rugby franchise.

The Reds are favourites to re-sign the 28-year-old, who battled to secure a starting berth at Toulon, although reports in the Australian media suggest that the Melbourne Rebels are also keen to acquire his services.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika revealed last month that he held talks with Cooper about returning to play in Australia, and the fly-half is set to be in the selection mix for the Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney on August 20.

That would mean Cooper will be up against Foley in a battle to wear the Wallabies' number 10 jersey against the All Blacks but the Waratahs stalwart is not worried about Cooper's impending return.

“It’s great for Australian rugby isn’t it? To have a player of that calibre back,” Foley told Fox Sports.

“I think competition has always been healthy between the two of us, and all the tens in Australia, it’s great to have. For Australian rugby it can only be a positive. It’s exciting, wherever he ends up. The competition is great.

“In all the training last year we had great competition. We had two 15-sides running against each other.

"This year I suppose we probably lacked a bit of depth in that playmaker role, especially in those first couple of games (in June), we were quite limited.”