It's not just England's immediate fate on the line at Twickenham this Sunday - so too is the playing future of the Australian that Kiwis love to hate.
If Quade Cooper can play a major role in spelling the demise of England, he will go equally as far in finally winning back the Wallaby No. 10 jersey and possibly getting another crack at his nemesis of Richie McCaw's All Blacks.
Cooper says he is buoyed by his strong running game in the recent Pool A romp over Uruguay but admitted he needed to improve his poor goalkicking efforts if he is to fully sway coach Michael Cheika that he is the man to take Australia deep into the tournament.
The Australians won't want to see a similar goalkicking effort to the Uruguay match when they face England. The Kiwi-born Cooper only kicked five out of 11 attempts but was brilliant with the ball-in-hand. Setting up three tries.
But his goalkicking and a "disappointing" yellow card for a high tackle blighted his day.
