More: Quade Cooper in Twitter outburst
Writing in the New Zealand Herald following Australia’s Rugby Championship win over South Africa last week, Kiwi scribe Chris Rattue said the Wallabies would never win a World Cup with “the nutty No. 10.”
“Go on Michael Cheika. Dare you. Keep picking Quade Cooper as the Wallabies' World Cup lynchpin,” Rattue began.
“Cooper is as crazy as ever and will lose more games than he wins for the Wallabies.
“Coach Cheika is playing with fire in a World Cup year, relying on the nutty No10 to guide the ship.”
Cooper sent this cryptic tweet on Sunday morning after Australia’s 34-9 Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Medoza.
There was speculation Cooper was referring to his Wallabies teammates, before News Limited reported he was responding to Rattue’s article.
“There was some online criticism directed at me personally,” Cooper said.
“I’m disappointed in that but I’m human, I’ve got feelings. That’s it.
“I’ve never been one to read into media but this one time it caught my eye.
“I’m disappointed in myself for getting trapped in that. At the end of the day, I’m in a professional environment and it got to me this one time.”
Rattue’s scathing article went on to say Australia won their encounter with South Africa because of some questionable substitutions made by Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer rather than anything the Wallabies did.
“The dilemma for Cheika's Australia – who face England and Wales in their World Cup pool – is that Cooper is the key to spreading the ball against big opponents and he throws a decent long pass on the run.
“But ...Cooper still doesn't have a head for tests. Even an easy kick at goal went so wide it was actually funny.
“For every rabbit Cooper can pull out of a hat – he helped create a try to Adam Ashley-Cooper – there's a truck load of missing bunnies.
“There are reports that Cooper is about to re-sign with the ARU until 2019,” Rattue ends.
“If so, we get the last laugh on the famous George Gregan line. Four More Years, Australia.”
Cooper has attracted more than his fair share of negative publicity throughout his career, but Rattue’s article pushed him over the edge this time.
The 27-year-old later deleted the tweet, but not before it was retweeted and favourited dozens of times.
The Reds playmaker later tweeted this apology.
Apologies for any offensive language used on my Twitter feed.. I appreciate the support
— Quade Cooper (@QuadeCooper) July 26, 2015
The 54-Test Wallaby was born in New Zealand but has played all his representative rugby for Australia and has had a testy relationship with all things NZ rugby.
He has had run-ins – including several physical on-field altercations – with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and is often the victim of relentless booing from rugby fans across the ditch.
The low-point was a shocking performance in the 2011 RWC semi-final against the men in black at Eden Park in which Australia failed to score a try.
Cooper is one of several play-making options Cheika has for the upcoming edition of the World Cup, with Bernard Foley, Matt Toomua and Matt Giteau also in the mix.