Greg Cooper overcame childhood cancer to play seven tests for the All Blacks in 1986 and 1992.
At St John's College in Hastings Cooper, despite his illness, made the national secondary schools in 1983 and was still only 18 when he entered first class rugby in 1984 with the Barbarians on an Easter internal tour. But he was given just one early season game for Hawke's Bay and when overlooked for subsequent matches moved to Otago at the behest of the province's then coach, Laurie Mains.
He had 27 matches for Otago in 1984-85 and in each season was in the New Zealand Colts.
Homesickness played a part in his accepting an offer to move to Auckland, who were then in the early stages of what was to be an utter provincial domination for the next decade.
Cooper played 23 times for Auckland during 1986 and the first part of the 1987 season and it was from that union he had the first of what were to be two brief spells in the All Blacks. And having been the South Island's fullback in 1985 he became one of the few to play for each island when he appeared for the North in 1986.
When he finished with Otago in the 1996 season Cooper had amassed a record 1520 points for the union and had participated in some epic events. He played in all 17 matches in the 1991 NPC title win and in 1992 scored the winning try in extra time of the semifinal to put Otago into the first final of the NPC against Waikato.
He acted as a reserve for the All Blacks during 1991 and came close to being called into the World Cup when the squad was hit by injuries. His All Black recall came in 1992 when Otago's Mains had become the national coach.
Cooper played in the three centenary tests against the World XV, scoring 20 points in the second at Athletic Park, and then in the first test against Ireland at Carisbrook, but after a moderate display was replaced for the second test at Eden Park by, ironically, his brother Matthew.
From 1993-95 Cooper's career gradually wound down but there was a brief revival in 1996 when as a replacement draft player he made three Super 12 appearances for the Blues.
Since retirement, he moved into coaching Otago, the Blues and Stade Francais before heading off to Japan joining Dynaboars.
July 2022 saw him being named Utah Warriors new head coach after the departure of Shawn Pittman halfway through the 2022 campaign.
(LS July 2022)
Credit All Blacks
Career
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Utah Warriors Head Coach |
2022 - present |
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Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars Head Coach |
2018 - 2022 |
