Regardless of how many beers, if any, Ashley-Cooper consumed before his maiden test, his teammates and closest supporters will raise their glasses to toast a special player after Australia's final Bledisloe Cup clash of the year in Brisbane.
"I am the only Wallaby to have debuted without a number on my back," he says proudly.
Ashley-Cooper will also be only the sixth player in more than a century of international rugby to rack up 100 tests for Australia, joining George Gregan (139), Nathan Sharpe (116), George Smith (111), Stephen Larkham (102) and David Campese (101) in the Wallabies' most exclusive club.
The 30-year-old can hardly believe it.
"It's a little surreal," he said. "I'm sure it's going to take a while for it to all sink in. Once it's all happening on the weekend and the caps have been handed out, I'll probably still pinch myself.
"From where I've come from, I'm just a Central Coast battler and trying to survive. I didn't really have an idea that I was going to be a professional rugby player until I left school.
"So it wasn't until I started playing first grade that I thought I'd ever even give it a decent crack.
"Then before I knew it, I was picked up by the Brumbies. It all really happened very quickly.
"But I remember when it all started that there was no way I thought I'd ever play Super Rugby, let alone for the Wallabies and, here I am, on 99 tests. I find it hard to believe where I am, but I've just enjoyed the ride."
The ride began when his rugby league team folded as a 14-year-old and he joined the Ourimbah Razorbacks.
"I didn't really know what I wanted to do -- I actually wanted to play tennis," Ashley-Cooper said.
"But I remember Mum sitting me down one day and saying, 'Look mate, you're not playing tennis. Why don't you give rugby a go?' "
At the time, Ashley-Cooper's uncle, Graeme Bond, was playing for the Brumbies and would go on to make five appearances for the Wallabies in 2001.
"He was a huge influence on my decision to play rugby in the first place and just a family inspiration," Ashley-Cooper said.
"Once I decided I wanted to become a professional rugby player, I just wanted to follow in his footsteps.
"He was a great mentor along the way and still is."
Like Bond, Ashley-Cooper began as a specialist centre. But since debuting in 2005, the backline ace has carved out one of the great Wallabies careers playing fullback, on both wings and in both centre slots.
"Many people would view that as a drawback but it's another feather in his cap," said Ashley-Cooper's former Wallabies and Brumbies teammate Stirling Mortlock.
"Despite being moved around all the time and not holding down the one position, he's still had a dramatic impact."
His envied versatility aside, Ashley-Cooper is equally proud about his longevity and durability -- and so he should be.
The Wallabies ironman was the only player to play the maximum seven games -- all 560 minutes without being subbed -- at the 2011 Rugby World Cup and has barely missed a test through injury in the best part of a decade.
"Being in the audience before making his debut is a great tale, but it's been fantastic to see how consistent he's been year in, year out," Mortlock said.
"He's so good and so flexible, a great leader and you could argue he's in career-best form. He's playing at a fantastic level."
A two-try hero in the NSW Waratahs' historic Super Rugby final triumph over the Crusaders, Ashley-Cooper agrees 2014 has been his best season and the Wallabies vice-captain has declared 2015 will be his last in Australia. But he has unfinished business to attend to first.
- AAP
