Gregory John Luke Cooper (born 10 June 1965) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. A fullback, Cooper represented

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

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 Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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 ...

. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, 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.

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