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Hooper wouldn't swap teammates for All Blacks
By Harry West
Michael Hooper remains confident Australia can turn things around even in the wake of a second successive convincing defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the Rugby Championship.
Beauden Barrett turned in a sparkling performance at Eden Park on Saturday, becoming the first All Black to score four tries against the Wallabies, contributing 30 points in total as the defending champions ran out 40-12 victors to retain the Bledisloe Cup.
Joe Moody and Liam Squire also crossed the whitewash for the home side, who have not lost at the Auckland venue in 42 Tests - a run that dates back to July 1994.
The Wallabies, by comparison, are left licking their wounds on the back of last weekend's 38-13 defeat in Sydney, while the pressure continues to mount on head coach Michael Cheika.
"I've got full belief in our team, I've got full belief in our players," said a defiant Hooper.
"Something is not going right at the moment in certain parts of our game that we've got to cut out.
"But I'm a big believer in this team and I've got full confidence that we can turn the corner."
Hooper went on to make the startling claim that he wouldn't trade any of his teammates for All Blacks.
"You look at the match-ups tonight, of the players, and I'm keeping all our players you know?" he said.
"I'm not swapping any of them. So how we can get us as a group to reach our potential is the key.
"I'm going to keep fighting and keep swinging until we get there."
The Wallabies will now try to defend their home turf against South Africa when they host the Springboks in Brisbane in two weeks time.
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Latest Comments
There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.
Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.
Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.
They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.
Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.
Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen
Go to commentsWas it? I just brought it up in some of my posts to rub it in that the AB last year nearly put 100 on a top 6N side lol
I agree to be honest. The biggest key to me that they might be jadded was none of them had mom performances, or even as good as their last three games.
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