Jones says Welsh wary of Wallaby wizard Cooper

WALES fly-half Stephen Jones readily accepts that Australian playmaker Quade Cooper is “different to anything else out there”.

Cooper has teased and tormented opposition defences throughout his fledgling international career.

And he is comfortably capable of doing the same to Wales in Saturday’s autumn Test series opener at the Millennium Stadium.

Jones, who is set to win his 92nd cap this weekend, said: “He is a quality player. In a lot of senses, he is different to anything else out there.

“His footwork is fantastic, his kicking game is very good and he poses defences a lot of problems.

“His footwork is so good, he very rarely gets wrapped up in the tackle and, because of that, he offloads a lot.

“You very rarely see him die with the ball or go fully into contact with it. He just sees things very early.

“At the back, we’ve got to make sure we mark as much space as we can. We can’t give this guy big chunks of field to aim at because he will make us pay.”

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has hinted that he could retain the side that memorably beat New Zealand in Hong Kong last Saturday, which would mean Wales facing the full Australian attacking armoury.

Cooper, Giteau, Will Genia, Adam Ashley-Cooper, James O’Connor, Drew Mitchell and Kurtley Beale are the Wallabies’ magnificent seven, a back division capable of shredding any defence.

Wales coach Warren Gatland will name his starting line-up today, a team shorn of injured quintet Lee Byrne, Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies and Ryan Jones.

Centre James Hook is expected to deputise for full-back Byrne, with Tom Shanklin and Andrew Bishop forging the midfield partnership and either Tom Prydie, Will Harries or Chris Czekaj filling Halfpenny’s wing vacancy.

Up front, it appears Gatland’s only area for debate is whether he goes with Sam Warburton or Dan Lydiate at blindside.

Australia assistant coach Jim Williams says his side will need to meet the physical challenge posed by Wales at close quarters.

There have been question marks over the Australia front five for a number of seasons. But Williams insists the hard work put in over recent years means the tourists will be no soft touch.

“Our improvement has been down to a lot of hard work from the boys throughout the last couple of years, and again this year,” the 41-year-old former Munster skipper said.

“When we had some injuries earlier this year some of the guys had a tough time, but they are now stronger physically and mentally as a result and have come on heaps.”