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He may (or may not) be a lot of things but I don't think you could lable AA-C a "wuss"!
Parental 'advice' benefits Adam
By Jim Tucker
May 30, 2007
WHEN Adam Ashley-Cooper hinted at 15 years of age that he might switch to tennis, his mum bristled with the classic line: "Don't be a wuss, I'll drive you to rugby training."
Ashley-Cooper yesterday recalled with relish the early crossroads that launched him towards the Test series against Wales, with the second match at Suncorp Stadium this Saturday.
And Saturday is the night that Ashley-Cooper must show he is a viable inside centre to develop for the Rugby World Cup, as top playmaker Steve Larkham is fit for certain selection today after a hamstring injury.
It's not lost on Ashley-Cooper that he is perfectly named for a tennis career because Ashley Cooper was Australia's 1958 Wimbledon and US Open champion.
"It's odd but people do ask if we're related even though mine is a surname," he said.
"The thing is I did consider turning to tennis at 14 or 15.
"My junior league team folded on the New South Wales Central Coast so it was pennant tennis or rugby.
"It was mum who told me 'don't be a wuss' so everything in rugby started with training once a week for fitness and some fun with the old Ourimbah Razorbacks.
"My first Test cap was in pretty unusual circumstances (in 2005). I was at the ground in Perth thinking about a pie when Elton Flatley pulled out in the warm-ups and I was rushed on to the bench against South Africa."
The two-minute Wallaby earned a proper Test debut in Sydney last weekend, but he was rarely able to get involved with the bullocking, fending runs he produced as a Brumbies wing.
The quest for an inside centre to free Matt Giteau to play halfback is one of the real questions in Australia's run to the Rugby World Cup.
Outside of Giteau and Flatley, Australia has struggled to find the right figure for No.12 since the retirement of 1999 Rugby World Cup man of the tournament Tim Horan.
The fact that time has marched on since then is illustrated when Ashley-Cooper, 23, remembers Horan only as "glimpses on TV and highlights".
Wallabies coach John Connolly has only six more Tests to bed down key positions, and that's not a lot of time to learn intricacies.
But the signs will be there if Ashley-Cooper can slice through the Wales defence with a big hand-off, slip a soft pass and drive back a few platers in defence.
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Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
