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'We don't fear them': Hooper weighs in on Bledisloe war of words
Straight-shooter Michael Hooper has put an end to the Bledisloe war of words, encouraging his Wallabies to be bold and claim a famous victory over New Zealand on Saturday night.
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The Australia captain stepped in front of the camera on the eve of the second Bledisloe test – one the Wallabies must win to keep the series alive – and at the end of a week of verbal barbs.
Wallabies winger Andrew Kellaway’s suggestion the All Blacks had lost their aura was received badly in Aotearoa.
So too was Jordan Uelese’s attempt to put pressure on series leaders New Zealand when he said “No one wants to be the first All Blacks team to lose at Eden Park … the pressure’s on them”.
Hooper, not one for monkey business, wouldn’t engage in the malarkey.
“We do respect New Zealand and the All Blacks. But we don’t fear them,” he said.
“Yeah, a lot’s been made of it but, always doesn’t these sort of weeks, isn’t it?”
“We’re going out there to impose our game on these guys … and I can’t wait to get out there on the field.”
Hooper said he was confident his team had would shut the pre-game chat out of their minds come kickoff.
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“The stuff we’ve been talking about is leaving a mark,” he said.
“We play for a lot of reasons. We talk about those often in our team rooms. A common and big factor is for our people.
“It’s great when the jerseys come out the next morning, there’s people walking their dogs wearing the Wallabies gold.”
All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock has responded to Sir John Kirwan’s claim that the first half an hour of last week’s Bledisloe Cup clash was the side’s “worst 30 minutes in the last five years”. #AllBlacks #Wallabies #BledisloeCup #NZLvAUS https://t.co/OJ1iihV4hx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 13, 2021
Dave Rennie has swung four changes for the match, which also doubles as the Rugby Championship series opener.
In comes backline pair Matt To’ouma and Marika Koroibete at Jordan Petaia and Len Ikitau’s expense, while in the forward pack, Matt Philip and Lachie Swinton return for Harry Wilson and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
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Koroibete, suspended for Bledisloe I for a late night drinking session, looms as Australia’s game changer.
“It was tough for him sitting in the stands last week … I can’t wait to see him with ball in hand or without ball in hand,” Hooper said.
In contrast, the All Blacks have made just one injury-enforced change, bringing in winger Will Jordan for centre Anton Lienert-Brown.
New Zealand are yet to truly hit their strides under second-year coach Ian Foster, and were pilloried in the local press for their poor start against Australia last week.
“We expect them to grow again and be better. They always are, second test of the year,” Hooper said.
All Blacks and Chiefs star Damian McKenzie has reportedly signed a deal with Japanese club Tokyo Sungoliath that will see him miss the 2022 Super Rugby season. #AllBlacks #SuperRugby #JapanRugbyLeagueOne #Chiefs #TokyoSungoliath https://t.co/NzX4fYRY5B
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 13, 2021
The Wallabies head to Eden Park very aware of their rotten record at the ground: no wins against New Zealand in the last 21 clashes, dating back to 1986.
This week there will be one major difference.
A rescheduling of the series due to New Zealand’s border controls prompted NZ Rugby to place a second test at Eden Park, and ticket sales have been poor.
Despite a ‘kids go free’ promotion and cheap Air New Zealand flight-ticket combos from Wellington, where the test was to be played, the colosseum will be around half-full.
Maintaining his poker face, Hooper denied that would advantage Australia.
“We haven’t even thought about it,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments