Quade Cooper knows international rugby can be a bit like Test cricket, and the Wallaby five-eighth says he's doing his best to stop playing it like a Twenty20 match.

Coach Robbie Deans said Australia's impatience kept Italy in last weekend's game and striking a balance between the flamboyance and grind would be vital against France this Saturday night (0645 Sunday AEDT).

Cooper admits that can be "boring", but is also determined to channel his inner Simon Katich as much as his Andrew Symonds.

"To be the complete player you've got to have all of those things in your armoury and that's what I'm working towards," he told reporters in Paris.

"It's just like Test cricket. You can't expect a Test cricket match to be like a Twenty20 match and the same with rugby, you can't expect a Test match to be like Super 14 and sevens every game."

The Wallabies could have run up a Test cricket score had their patience held and their passes stuck in Florence.

At times their ability to control the game appeared to completely desert them, but Cooper is adamant they took a step forward ahead of their Stade de France showdown.

"Learning when to hold back a bit I think was the big key in the Italian game because there was so much space, I was getting so excited and wanting to run everything," Cooper said.

"I always like to be on the front foot and attacking so, when you do have to pull back, I find that quite hard and sometimes a bit boring as well.

"When you're trying to play a game like (kicking to) the corners all game, it's just not going to work for us.

"It's trying to find that balance between playing the corners and running and keeping teams on edge.

"You've still got to play the game of football."

The 22-year-old, who won the man of the match award in Florence, is fast forming a lethal combination with fullback Kurtley Beale.

Cooper says their partnership is running on pure instinct.

"Being instinctive, you're sort of on the same page to start with, you're already ahead there," he said.

"The longer you play together the better you read each other.

"For me, it's just trying to guess what he's going to do and try and be in the area or the vicinity that I think he might be.

"That's the only way you can read players like Kurtley."

Cooper's award, a giant wooden football he might have trouble getting through customs, was as much a credit to his improved defence as his scything attacking raids.

"I wasn't too pleased with myself the week before so this week I really wanted to get out there and defend hard," he said.

"I was pretty happy but that was just one game on, and one slight improvement."

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