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What Aussie 7s ace expects from debutant Michael Hooper at Hong Kong Sevens
It almost feels wrong to describe Australian rugby great Michael Hooper as a rookie, but it’s true. After a glistening international 15s career which included four John Eales Medals, the man known as ‘Hoops’ is hours away from another professional rugby milestone.
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At 32 years of age, Michael Hooper will follow in the footsteps of giants by playing at the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens. Australians Tim Horan and David Campese have had the honour, as have All Blacks legends Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen.
This event is special. Revered by so many around the world, there’s a reason that fans travel from all over to be part of the incredible long weekend at the Hong Kong Sevens.
But for ‘rookie’ Michael Hooper, this one means more. Already regarded as one of the greatest Wallabies in the history of Test rugby, Hooper will venture down a different path as a debutant on the SVNS Series.
Hooper, whose Wallabies career came to a heartbreaking end last year after being left out of the Rugby World Cup squad, first trained with the Australian sevens men’s side in November but an Achilles injury delayed an international call-up.
But after being included in the squad for the leg at the spiritual home of rugby sevens, ‘Hoops’ will debut. There’s a lot of interest and intrigue surrounding Hooper but his Australian teammates don’t want the SVNS convert to reinvent the wheel.
“Just do his job. Hoop is a tough carrier, he’s great in contact and he’s great around the breakdown. That’s all we need from him,” Australia’s Matt Gonzalez told RugbyPass at Hong Kong Stadium on Wednesday.
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“We don’t need extravagant, we don’t need flair. We just want him to do his job and carry hard, tackle hard and make a few pilfs – do what he’s absolutely good at.”
With Hooper now among their ranks, the Aussies are looking to bounce back in Hong Kong China after a tough run at the season’s two most recent events in Vancouver and Los Angeles.
Australia failed to win any of their pool matches against Antoine Dupont’s France, the United States of America and a valiant Samoa side at Canada’s BC Place Stadium.
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While they improved a week later with a quarter-final berth, a shock defeat to Great Britain saw the men in gold bow out sooner than many would’ve expected as they were the favourites for that clash.
“Vancouver was one that we take a few things out of,” Gonzalez added.
“We really turned it around within a week and played really good footy for three games and unfortunately we got to the quarter-final and lost our way a little bit.
“The thing with sevens is you drop one game and it can drastically change where you end up on the table.
“There’s always learnings to take out of every tournament whether we come second or seventh.
“I think we’ve just got to take away what we got out of those pool games and put that across six games and not just three or five.”
But with all that in the past, and the lessons now surely learned, the Australians turn their focus to this weekend’s highly anticipated swansong event at “the Mecca of sevens.”
For the last time, Hong Kong Sevens will host this leg of the SVNS Series. Kai Tak Sports Park will stage the event from 2025.
“It’s massive. I’ve said it a few times, it’s the Mecca of sevens. Everyone on the circuit wants to play here, everyone that’s in Hong Kong wants to come and watch it.
“I think it’s just going to be unbelievable, especially on that Saturday, just unbelievable to run out to. (When) people are screaming at you, that south stand is going off.
“Everyone wants to be here and everyone wants to play in this leg.”
Australia will come up against a desperate Fiji side in their opening match. The Fijians have parted ways with Ben Gollings, with Olympic gold medallist Osea Kolinisau stepping up as their new coach.
Fiji won the Hong Kong Sevens five times on the bounce from 2015 to 2019 but have not won the event since. Considering how their season has gone to date too, this is a side hungry to turn things around on one of the biggest stages in the sport.
“They’re going to be absolutely firing and we’ve spoken about that. We’ve got to come out with a mentality that we want it more.
“There’s been a lot of that chat around training (and) our meetings and stuff like that about how bad do you want it and how much does this mean to you and the people back home?
“Fiji is going to be a tough first game but you couldn’t ask for something better… the crowd’s going to be going crazy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I get that Ben's role is to attract SA readers with controversial clickbait, but what about respecting the rivalry of over 100 years? The Boks won, we lost. The Boks have now won 4 world cups since their inclusion back into international rugby, and in that time the rest of the world combined have only won 4! It's an incredible achievement. Show respect, and then hope we win 2-0 in SA later this year. But don't be a whiner; it means you don't understand the rivalry at its essence. Winner takes all when NZ plays SA. Sport in it's purest form. Long may it continue.
16 Go to commentsU Nz never ever use to be such a bunch off whining girls,now this so sad that u got this aasss writing some crap
16 Go to commentsBeautifully written.
5 Go to commentsYou can be a dominating team and still lose. The Boks know that if the ABs are a man down, they play as if they have another two players on the field. The ABs did attack, they did apply pressure, they built more plays but they did not add more points to the board. The ABs are still the most dominant team in sports today as the ABs will go for a win in every game they play. Rassie and Jacques have used the time between World Cups to build squad depth. They were also the last tier 1 nation to start playing rugby after COVID restrictions were eased and still won the series against The B&I Lions. Ben may write to persuade the reader that the Boks are not worthy of the trophy or worthy to be the best in the world but Ben, since you enjoy stats so much, you forgot the most important statistic….the score! That's the one that matters most.
16 Go to commentsNot a fan of Penney to be fair as I don’t see him able to perform at SR level. However he has stepped into a bit of a mess with so many long service players leaving. No matter how good a coach us he can’t wave a magic wind and turn young pups into Crusaders in 5 mins. Wheaven to accept this is a complete rebuild of players and culture. Have some patience just as the other teams have had in years gone by
29 Go to commentsWhat is Ben’s point exactly? Cause if it’s that the ABs should’ve won that game, then yes I think every AB fan would agree with that. But the DIDN'T. You need luck to go your way and it went the Springboks way, just as it went the ABs way in 2011. Given that this article is written 6 months after the final shows that Ben is still incredibly butthurt. Time to move on Mr Smith. Maybe join something that suits your bias… i’m thinking the Australian commentary panel?
16 Go to commentsSA players and fans calling the irish arrogant, ooh the irony!!
80 Go to commentsPersonally i’d have BB off the bench and DMac as 10. BB seems to have more ‘average’ games and less ability to mix it up on the fly than DMac,
7 Go to commentsBen’s Myth History is written by the guy who does the engraving on the trophy. Took Ben six months to write this piece.
16 Go to commentsThis article should have been written immediately after the final, not half a year later. While the content of the article is accurate with the references to the cruel bounce to Savea right before the try line, Etzebeth’s cynical infringement, and the inconsistent cards, some of the hyperbole emotional statements are unnecessary and gaslighting. The fact remains that the Springboks took their scoring opportunities. They had amazing defence throughout the entire match (limiting the ABs to one try is very respectable), their scrum was pretty good and they had quite a solid lineout despite having a part-time hooker throwing the ball in. Let’s give credit where credit is due and move forward. The Springboks won because they know how to win big games through strong defence and kicking, and they had lady luck on their side on the day. The All Blacks miraculously made the final despite everyone’s predictions and could’ve won the whole damn thing with 14 men who should’ve taken better advantage of their scoring chances and committed less mistakes (shoddy lineouts, dropped balls, some poor kicks and passing, etc), and an average coach and captain with some questionable tactics (Jordie kicking for goal late in the game from a dodgy position and perhaps the wrong game plan overall). Time to move on.
16 Go to commentsThere’s no doubt the All Blacks were the better team on the day, but it’s not enough to be better, you also have to have luck.
16 Go to commentsI dunno, Ben. It does feel a little like you are just in denial that the Springboks are really good. Good enough to win two straight world cups.
16 Go to commentsAre we still talking about the World Cup final in May? The final took place more than 6 months ago. Isn’t it time to move on?
16 Go to commentsIt looks like the trauma counseling is not helping the Ben Smith troll much. He is still trying to convince his little brain that his loser team won the RWC.
16 Go to commentsOh dear, Jon. Ben Smith’s Saffer clickbait was at least backed up by some rationale!
16 Go to commentsThe more direct approach to your past time this time I see Ben. Look, it doesn’t need to be said, anyone watching the match knows the ABs played better and just got robbed by the officiating, but lets face it, their dominance in the match was only because South Africa choked and forgot how to play rugby with the ball. South Africa were still the better side. Of course Ireland and France were also better sides that New Zealand. Possibly even England on WC performances.
16 Go to commentsGreat mythology - no surprises Ox didn't talk about being driven backwards by Laulala in the RWC final!
5 Go to commentsJust shows how a hand up can help as long as the invitation is accepted. Good story.
1 Go to commentsKarma is a powerful force
22 Go to commentsFrench players said the same thing to the All Blacks after their pool match in 2011. But the French can back up their s**t talk with action.
80 Go to comments