Cooper’s legacy

A new trophy up for grabs

Ross Cooper proudly represented Wairarapabush and the Thames Valley Swampfoxes.

And now the former All Black assistant coach and selector has donated a trophy to be contested between the two unions.

Cooper played for Green and Reds 24 times in 1978 and 1979 when he taught at the now-closed Tuturumuri School, south of Martinborough, which had two teachers and about 50 children at the time.

A tough No.8, Cooper played for Tuhirangi alongside a then 17-yearold Andy Earl. The latter later represented Canterbury in their Ranfurly Shield heyday of the early 1980s and the All Blacks in 45 games, including 14 tests.

“I had two years with Wai-bush, and then I moved up to Thames Valley. I’m now on the board of the Thames Valley Union, I’ve coached them and won the competition, managed them, and done everything really with Thames Valley, so I decided to donate a cup,” Cooper said.

“I loved playing for Wai-bush and I loved playing for Thames Valley and coaching them. With that level of connection with the unions, I just wanted to give the two teams I played for something other than the Heartland trophies to play for.”

Cooper, a Thames Valley life member, said he didn’t want to name the trophy after himself because it was not about him.

“The main reason I called it the President’s Cup, is that anybody who is the president of a union has already given a lifetime of service to their union,” he said.

“So rather than call it the Ross Cooper Cup or anything like that, it’s not about me, it’s about all the wonderful people who went on to become presidents, and I just think it’s nice recognition for what they’ve achieved.”

Cooper’s coaching resume is impressive, having coached Thames Valley to two NPC third division titles.

He also coached Counties-manukau in the NPC and the Chiefs in Super Rugby.

However, he rates his greatest achievement as being assistant coach to John Hart in the first All Black test series victory in South Africa in 1996.

Cooper will be on hand at this afternoon’s game at Trust House Memorial Park to present the President’s Cup to the winning captain, and he’s predicting a close battle between the teams.

However, he said the Swampfoxes, who have had a purple patch in recent years, winning the Meads Cup in 2018, have been hindered by the covid-19 level 4 restrictions.

“The lockdown hasn’t

I loved playing for Wai-bush and I loved playing for Thames Valley and coaching them.

- Ross Cooper

done us any favours because some of our players come out of Auckland and we can’t get them, so that’s a bit of a worry, but we will be there or thereabouts, and we have a reasonably good team this year, so it will be a interesting.

“I like the connection between Wai-bush and Thames Valley because the levels are pretty even.”