O'Connor and Cooper to face Boks?

Quade Cooper has been hovering on the fringes, without getting a look in and James O'Connor is recovering from injury.

Both could play a crucial role in Australia's bid to end their losing streak when they host world champions, South Africa, on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

Flyhalf James O'Connor, who has been sidelined with a groin injury, is an outside chance to return against the Springboks this week.

"We've got to assess where James is at," Wallabies coach Dave Rennie told the media.

"He's back in training.

"He'll run [on Monday], so we'll get a bit of clarity about where he's at."

Critics were 'baffled' that veteran playmaker Quade Cooper wasn't selected for this past Sunday's Bledisloe Cup clash in Perth.

The All Blacks completed a series clean sweep of the Wallabies over the weekend as they overcame a Jordie Barrett red card to defeat their Australian counterparts 38-21.

Plenty of speculation leading into the match had centred on whether Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie would call on Cooper, who has come into the squad as injury cover for the injured James O'Connor, for the encounter.

Had he been selected, Cooper would have completed an unlikely comeback to the Test arena four years after he made his last appearance for the Wallabies.

(Continue below ...)

However, the 70-test star was snubbed by Rennie, who instead opted to keep faith in young pivot Noah Lolesio, who had endured a tough couple of matches against the All Blacks at Eden Park last month.

Utility back Reece Hodge was picked on the bench to act as cover for Lolesio, meaning there was no room in Rennie's matchday squad for Cooper.

Now Cooper's name will be back in the hat for two back-to-back Tests against the Boks.

Rennie was giving nothing away in his media briefings.

"We've got the world champions [South Africa] coming up for a couple of Tests," Rennie said.

"That's going to be great for us as well.

"We've got to be better no doubt.

"But I still feel we are trending in the right direction.

"We need to see evidence of that over the next couple of weeks."

Sources: RugbyPass & AAP