22 Jan 2016

Cooper chasing Olympic sevens spot

5:36 am on 22 January 2016

Wallabies first-five Quade Cooper has signed up to Australia's Rugby Sevens programme, and is seeking a spot on their Rio Olympic squad.

Quade Cooper walks from the field after being issued a yellow card, Auckland 2015.

Wallabies first-five Quade Cooper. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The 27-year-old will be released by his French club side Toulon for the Sydney, Paris and London legs of the Sevens World Series, and will then link up with the squad in Sydney ahead of the Olympics.

"As a rugby player growing up you never think you'll have the chance to play at an Olympics so I'll be doing everything I can to make the squad," Cooper said.

"The Olympics is a real opportunity to grow the game of Rugby in Australia and it would be a privilege to play my part in that."

Capped 58 times, Cooper was part of the Wallabies squad that finished runners-up at last year's Rugby World Cup after losing to the All Blacks in the final at Twickenham.

Rugby Sevens makes its Olympic debut at the August 5th-21st Games.

The last time rugby featured at an Olympics was in the 1924 Games in Paris, where the United States beat France for gold.

-Reuters