Quade Cooper's magical breakthrough season will hit a major reality check this week when he fronts a Gold Coast court over the late-night incident that has threatened to ruin his career.

Cooper has successfully taken his superb 2010 Super 14 form into the international arena and Saturday night earned his second man-of-the-match award in his first four Tests as Wallabies five-eighth.

The mercurial playmaker produced a match-turning try on halftime and was the most dangerous attacking player at Suncorp Stadium for Australia to triumph 22-15 over Ireland.

But his next challenge restarts on Friday when Cooper is scheduled to face a committal hearing at Southport Magistrates Court on burglary charges.

The 22-year-old's Super 14 involvement was under a dark cloud following his early-morning arrest in December after a night of partying.

The Australian Rugby Union, who cleared him to play for Queensland following his positive response to a counselling program, is also waiting on court results before re-signing the game-breaking No.10.

For all the extra pressure the charges have brought upon Cooper, he has impressed all and sundry within the Reds and Wallabies with his on and off the field responses.

"All of his recent experiences have served him well in terms of earthing him and appreciating what he's got and it's shown in a greater maturity," Test coach Robbie Deans told AAP.

"It's obviously been a background for a while now so it will be good for him to get it dealt with."

Apart from producing the scintillating plays which were a feature of the Reds' rise, Cooper has also added greater composure to his game and is doing the little things right, highlighted by his clean takes of halfback Luke Burgess's errant passes against Ireland.

Backline utility Adam Ashley-Cooper expects Cooper's "magic" will transform the Wallabies' attack in much the same way as it did Queensland's if they give him front-foot ball.

"The defence is just waiting for him to play and that's the best thing about attacking outside him because they know he's going to create something and so do we," Ashley-Cooper said.

"Quade's certainly developed and is improving. He's got great feet and great ball skills and hopefully that frees up the rest of the backline.

"It brings a lot of confidence and a lot of belief knowing that Quade, with his quality creating this kind of attack, (that) we just want to follow and run plays off him."

Ashley-Cooper, who ended last year at fullback, started on the wing on Saturday night but moved to outside centre when Rob Horne's hamstring problems resurfaced before halftime.

Deans felt a three-week break after a month of Test rugby at No.13 would help Horne overcome the psychological and physical issues of his injury.

"A big part of the challenge for Rob is mental, and pushing through the barriers - first of all through preparation and then the game, and he's under way," he said.

"He's just got so much history that it's in the back of his mind."

Horne said he felt a twinge in the first half and was glad to have taken a conservative approach to "pull the pin".

"I've learnt from my mistakes," he said.

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