Adam Ashley-Cooper is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer. He he has signed with the NSW Waratahs in the international Super Rugby competition for 2012 and also plays for Australia

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

. He was educated at the Berkeley Vale High School and played his junior rugby for Ourimbah on the NSW Central Coast. He is the nephew of former Wallaby and Brumbies winger Graeme Bond.

Career

Ashley-Cooper joined the Brumbies on an ARU

Australian Rugby Union

The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...

 development contract in 2004. He went on to tour with the side and played matches in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, including games against the Bulls and Stormers

Stormers

The Stormers, for sponsorship reasons referred to as DHL Stormers, are a South African rugby union team based in Cape Town competing in the Super Rugby competition . Despite their lack of silverware over the years, their home stadium, Newlands, typically draws the highest average attendance figures...

. He went on to play in all of the Brumbies pre-season trials, playing as a utility back.

He made his Super Rugby debut for the Brumbies in a home match against the Crusaders in 2005 on the wing. He subsequently played in two other games that season; against the Chiefs and the Queensland Reds

Queensland Reds

The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...

. Although his 2005 season was restricted by a hamstring injury he had made a strong impression from his gametime and previous Australian Under 21s' World Championships tour of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 to be selected for the Wallabies in their second Tri Nations

2005 Tri Nations Series

-Round Two:-Round Three:-Round Four:-Round Five:-Round Six:-External links:* at Rugby.com.aurugby union schedule for 2005...

 match against the Springboks

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

 and made his debut in the match in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. In the subsequent 2006 season

2006 Super 14 season

The 2006 Super 14 season started on Friday 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on Saturday 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, which saw two new teams, the...

, Ashley-Cooper played in 12 matches for the Brumbies, including scoring two tries

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

 and was included in the Wallabies squad primarily used as a fullback.

Ashley-Cooper is the nephew of the PNG-born ex-Wallaby Graham Bond. Ashley-Cooper’s family descends from Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury

Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury

Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury , styled The Honourable Cropley Ashley-Cooper until 1811, was a British politician. He was the father of the social reformer Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury....

(1768–1851). The Earl represented Dorchester in Parliament for 21 years.