Tim Horan wants more consistent suspensions

Qantas Wallabies great Tim Horan has called for tournament-specific Rugby suspensions after Test playmaker Quade Cooper lost his appeal against a two-match ban that robs him of a eagerly-anticipated Bledisloe Cup debut.

Cooper copped a second blow in four days when a three-man appeals committee dismissed Australia's objection to his punishment for Saturday night's dangerous tackle on South African Morne Steyn.

The red-hot five-eighth will miss both Saturday night's clash against the All Blacks at Etihad Stadium and the return encounter in Christchurch the following weekend.

Cooper's punishment is effectively the most severe of three similar lifting tackles in consecutive Bundaberg Red Tri-Nations matches even though his offence was arguably the most tame.

His Australian Rugby Union legal counsel and coach Robbie Deans argued Springboks Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie were given more lenient bans as they could serve their time through missing provincial Currie Cup matches in South Africa.

While de Villiers' tackle on All Black Rene Ranger was viewed as the most dangerous and Fourie had a prior conviction, they both only have to miss one Tri-Nations Test.

Horan, who acts as a Rugby mentor for Cooper, also felt back-to-back Bledisloe Cup Tests was an overly harsh punishment for a lifting tackle that went wrong.

But the inconsistency of the sentence was the biggest issue for the 80-Test centre.

"It's just a shame that the two Test matches are week after week (against NZ)," Horan said.

"In a competition any bans handed out should be served within that competition.

"If you commit an offence playing Currie Cup you miss Currie Cup matches and if you commit it in the Tri-Nations you miss Tri-Nations matches."

Deans felt the same way after the appeal, which aimed as much for a reduction to a one match ban as a complete exoneration.

Asked if suspensions should served within the same competition, he said: "Yeah, ideally.

"That's obviously one manifestation if you like that hasn't been consistent, but it depends where you sit," Deans said.

"The critical message out of this for Quade and any subsequent players who find themselves in this circumstance and you're in this predicament you lose control of your own destiny, so you're much better to avert being in this predicament in the first place."

Horan agreed.

"It (damage to Steyn) wasn't serious but it could have been and you can't have young kids seeing that and trying to imitate it,' Horan said.

"It's a shame but the Wallabies have a quality replacement in Berrick Barnes."

Born in New Zealand's Waikato province, Cooper must now hope he can break back into Australia's team to make his first-ever appearance against his homeland in Sydney in September.

"I'm obviously pretty disappointed but at the same time we had a fair appeal," he said.

"All I can do from here is work hard and concentrate on getting back out there at the due date.

"You have to learn from it. Hopefully I don't get into this position again so I have to work on my technique."

His loss remains a massive blow for the Wallabies as he has been their most dangerous player in their opening five Tests this year, winning two Man-of-the-Match awards.

It certainly reduces Australia's unpredictability against an All Black outfit looking to inflict an eighth straight win over their trans-Tasman rivals for their worst Bledisloe streak in 63 years.

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The Australian Rugby Union have confirmed that they will appeal against the two-week ban handed out to Quade Cooper for a dangerous tackle against South Africa.

Cooper received the suspension after he was adjudged to have lifted and dropped Morne Steyn in a tackle during the second half of the Wallabies' 30-13 victory over South Africa on Saturday.

As things stand, the fly-half will not be available for next weekend's Tri-Nations clash against great rivals New Zealand nor the clash the week after.

However, Australia are hoping to now see the ban reduced to allow Cooper to play in Christchurch.

The appeal, lodged on Monday, is likely to be heard via a phone link-up in Sydney on Wednesday by three judicial officers - one from each Tri-Nations country.

The Australians will appeal on the grounds that the other two players to be banned for the offence, Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie, have only missed one Tri-Nations match as a result of their bans, while Cooper misses two.

New Zealand currently lead the Tri-Nations tournament with 10 points after two bonus-point wins over South Africa and will be playing their first away match of the campaign when they travel to Melbourne on Saturday.

Australia stand second in the competition with four points, while defending champions South Africa are pointless after three defeats in their first three outings.

Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper and Springbok centre Jaque Fourie have been cited for dangerous tackles in Brisbane on Saturday.

Australia went on to win 30-13 in their opening Tri-Nations Test.

Citing Commissioner Steve Hinds of New Zealand charged Cooper and Fourie under Law 10.4(e), over separate incidents which led to sin bin stints for the pair during the clash at Suncorp Stadium, the Australian Rugby Union said in a statement soon after the game.

Springbok Fourie was yellow-carded in the third minute of the Test and Australian playmaker Cooper suffered the same fate in the 54th minute.

Both cases will be heard by Judicial Officer Bruce Squire of New Zealand on Sunday in Brisbane.

Australia left South Africa's Tri-Nations title defence in tatters with a 30-13 win over the ill-disciplined Springboks this morning.

Flyhalf Will Genia celebrated his return from a thumb injury with a 75th-minute try to seal victory after South Africa scored two second-half tries to claw to within 10 points.

Winger Drew Mitchell scored on the stroke of halftime and Matt Giteau slotted five penalties to maintain the Springboks' winless record at Lang Park and leave their Tri-Nations campaign on the brink of collapse after three straight losses.

The Springboks did themselves few favours, having a man sin-binned at the start of each half and conceding a raft of first-half penalties to allow the Wallabies to open a 17-3 lead at the break.

The loss takes South Africa's Tri-Nations title hopes out of their hands, and they will need favourable results from Australia and New Zealand to have a chance of retaining their crown.

'Gotta be happy with the performance. There was a lot of stuff to be proud of, particularly the defence,' Australia coach Robbie Deans told reporters.

Jacque Fourie and Gurthro Steenkamp scored South Africa's first tries in 13 years at Lang Park after an undisciplined first half in which they managed only three points from a Morne Steyn penalty.

Steenkamp's try put South Africa within 10 points eight minutes before time and sparked hopes of an unlikely comeback, but the Wallabies absorbed fierce pressure in their 22 in a performance Deans rated their best defensive effort in his tenure as Australia coach.

As with their two previous away defeats to New Zealand, the Springboks started miserably when outside centre Fourie was sinbinned in the third minute for lifting number eight Richard Brown in a tackle.

Fourie was the third South African player sinbinned early in three consecutive matches.

'I just couldn't believe it could happen again for the third week in a row. This can't keep happening, surely,' lamented Springboks captain John Smit.

The Wallabies appeared determined to squander the 10-minute advantage, however, with flyhalf Quade Cooper's laser passes proving too slick for team mates on occasions.

A number of promising attacks were botched with fumbles and passes missing their targets before a ruck infringement handed Giteau the first of his four penalty goals for the half.

Mitchell finally swooped on a messy pass flung out by a prostrate Giteau five metres from the goal-line, then juggled the ball three times while pirouetting over the line to give the Wallabies their first try on the stroke of halftime.

Giteau's fifth penalty two minutes after the break put the Wallabies up 20-3, shortly before BJ Botha was sin-binned for slowing the ball down at a ruck.

South Africa mounted a belated fightback when Cooper lifted Steyn in a tackle to be sent off, and the Springboks capitalised with a try to Fourie in the 62nd minute.

The Springboks pushed hard but were repelled with some fierce tackling in the 22, but were too sapped from playing with 14 men for 20 minutes of the match to prevent Genia from crossing for the winner.

Although deflated, under-pressure coach Peter de Villiers remained defiant about the Springboks' flagging campaign.

'The competition isn't over yet ... It doesn't mean we're not part of the competition any more,' he said. 'The result doesn't matter to me as such.'

Jonathan Sexton kicked all of the tourists' points and made sure the Irish were in touch at the interval trailing 16-15.

But Matt Giteau's two penalties after the break condemned Declan Kidney's men to their third defeat of the tour.

Sexton had earlier given the Irish an early lead with two penalties to Cooper's one but the Aussies got themselves ahead thanks to Burgess' 18th-minute try.

Sexton continued his one-man points quest with two more penalties but Cooper hit back with his own three points before securing his side the half-time lead by crossing.

The Irish emerged from the break looking for a response but it was the home side who continued to dominate with Giteau sealing their fate with his pair of penalties.

Troubled Wallaby Quade Cooper has been cleared to resume playing with the Reds ahead of the Super 14.

Cooper's future in the sport was in doubt following his arrest for burglary on the Gold Coast in December but his efforts in counselling and personal development programmes have been rewarded with the green light to resume playing.

A three-hour conference between officials from the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) and the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) resulted in a unanimous vote for Cooper to be cleared to play.

The Reds face the Force in a pre-season game in Perth on Friday, where Cooper will make his bow for the season at fly-half. His arrest followed a breakthrough tour to the northern hemisphere in green and gold and he must continue to attend counselling as he prepares for a July court date.

"Just being part of the team and being out there knowing that I'm going to play has been very positive," he said. "It's back in my hands to keep going along this path and keep getting things right. It's not a matter of dropping off now that I'm allowed to play footy.

"Even if I wasn't allowed I would be carrying on with the things that I'm supposed to do and have been doing away from footy. This is the point where I need to keep following on and keep working at the things I've been working hard at."

ARU high performance manager David Nucifora called on Cooper to continue his work off the field after earning the right to be selected.

"Quade has done everything we required of him since he agreed to begin the program on December 18 and has earned the privilege to again be considered for selection," he said. "However, Quade is also aware that we will continue to closely monitor his performance in the program."

Meanwhile, Reds skipper James Horwill has been switched from the second-row to blindside flanker for their final trial game.

"I've been really impressed with his athleticism and power, and by putting him at six gives us a chance to get him more involved," head coach Ewen McKenzie said. "If he doesn't have such a large workload at scrum-time it gives him more opportunity to carry the ball and do other things.

"Obviously he is not attuned to that position but that doesn't mean he can't learn. We've seen plenty of examples of players at test level and below taking on new positions in a short space of time, so this is just an experiment."