Gareth Cooper claims not to know the whys and wherefores or what kind of deal, if any, was done, just that after training with Gloucester on Monday, thinking only of the upcoming league match with Northampton, he was told to pack his kit and head across the Severn Bridge. Gloucester had stopped playing hard ball over their scrum-half and he was available to play against Australia tomorrow.

The fact that practically everyone to the west of Offa's Dyke subsequently rained pleasantries on anyone to the east, when club-versus-country rancour had previously polluted the air, was neither here nor there. Cooper, the man in possession of the Wales No9 shirt, was heading for his 40th cap and relieved to be so.

Nobody knows more than him that missing one Test for whatever reason can spell the end of an international career or possibly mean another long spell on the sidelines.

In the last four seasons Cooper had made but a handful of starts as first Dwayne Peel and then Mike Phillips found favour while he spent too long in the sick bay.

At the age of 29, lesser men might have resigned themselves, then Phillips and Peel got injured and, three days before the grand slam champions announced their squad for this summer's tour, Cooper got the letter telling him he was heading for South Africa. He says he was thrilled, though he never doubted that one day he would be back in the red shirt of Wales.

"I thought I played OK in the first Test, but gained a lot of confidence from that and had a good second Test which acted like a springboard for me to improve my performances for Gloucester and Wales," he said. "At the start of the autumn internationals I was pretty confident as the man in possession that I might get the chance again."

Cooper feels that one more good game against Australia and he will be the man in possession again when the Six Nations comes around even though Phillips should be fit and playing again. And by then, if the whispers are true, he might be heading home, with Cardiff Blues the favourites.