Gregory John Luke Cooper (born 10 June 1965) is a New Zealand rugby union former player and current coach. A

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

, Cooper represented Hawke's Bay,

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and Auckland at a provincial level and the in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. In the Rugby Almanack of New Zealand, Cooper was selected as one of the "Five promising players" from the 1984 season and one of the "Five players of the year" for the 1991 season. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in 1986 and 1992, and played seven matches, all of them tests, for the team. he holds the record for the most points scored for Otago. Cooper was appointed coach of the Otago team for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In 2022 Cooper was named coach of the Utah Warriors in the

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

competition.https://www.warriorsrugby.com/news/utah-warriors-hire-greg-cooper-as-head-coach/

References

1965 births Living people Rugby union players from Gisborne, New Zealand New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand international rugby union players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Otago rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union fullbacks People educated at St John's College, Hastings {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1960s-stub