Wallabies inside back Mike Harris says Saturday night’s crucial Rugby Championship clash with South Africa in Perth will be a better indication of how star five-eighth Quade Cooper is travelling.

Harris says his Queensland stablemate didn’t deserve blame for his quiet return performance against the All Blacks at Eden Park two weeks ago and expects him to be up for the Springboks challenge.

Cooper was recalled to the No.10 hot-seat against New Zealand after an injury-restricted season at the Reds.

And sharp-shooting goal-kicker Harris, who has been named on the Wallaby bench for Saturday night, went in to bat for Cooper, arguing it was always going to be hard for an underdone five-eighth to star in a struggling side against the world champions.

“It’s pretty hard when you haven’t played too much and on that day he didn’t get too many opportunities,” said Harris.

“You can’t rate him on one performance coming back into a team where things weren’t going well around him.

“I know myself when you’re playing No.10 and things aren’t going well it’s definitely hard to try and have a good game.

“He hasn’t played a lot of footy so he’s got to do the small things right first and build his confidence up and his game will flow from there.”

Harris is hoping to line up alongside Cooper at inside centre at some stage on Saturday night in what would be his first Australian performance since coming off the bench to boot the winning goal after the siren against Wales in Melbourne in June.

The 24-year-old said his combination with Cooper will help him adjust if he’s thrown into the action in a match the Wallabies must win to hold onto the No.2 ranking in world rugby and remain an outside hope in the Rugby Championship.