'I'll give it every chance I can': Michael Hooper faces anxious wait
Australia's ailing captain Michael Hooper will give everything to play against Wales in Cardiff with the Wallabies desperate not to leave their underwhelming British tour empty-handed.
The sight of their leader limping off with a foot injury at Twickenham seemed to sum up a dispiriting night for the game but outgunned Wallabies in the 32-15 defeat at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday morning, AEDT).
"I've done something to my foot, we'll have a look at it. It happened in the tackle, a rugby injury," Hooper reported afterwards, adding that it currently felt "all right".
Asked about being fit for the team's final Test of the year at the Principality Stadium next Saturday, he promised: "I'll give it every chance I can."
If not, either Nic White or James O'Connor could take the reins after both doing a spell as stand-in captain following Hooper's exit.
But coach Dave Rennie will surely need his inspirational No 7 firing again for a match that now takes on even more significance after the disjointed performances which have led to a narrow defeat against Scotland and a much more comprehensive loss to England.
"It's hugely important [to win in Cardiff]. With the support that we have back at home and here, we definitely want to finish on a high," said Rennie, who's at least confident he'll have props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou back after the head knocks which have sidelined them.
As he suggested, no one could question the heart and defensive effort of his side but they must improve dramatically in all other areas - particularly discipline.
Among the 81,575 who thronged to 'HQ', a sizeable contingent of fans wearing the green and gold were left frustrated to see them give away a penalty, on average, every four-and-a-half minutes, while winger Tom Wright and prop Angus Bell both took a trip to the bin.
Some of those errors, sighed Rennie, were just "dumb" and, unlike last week when he was clearly unhappy with some of referee Romain Poite's decisions, he had no complaints about Jaco Peyper's calls this time as he pinged England nine times too.
"Most of the issues were our own undoing. We got into some good positions with the ball and got stripped three times. We've got to be better," he said.
"We prepared really well, went in with good clarity and confidence, but we're turning too much ball over and some individual mistakes put us under pressure."
It raised the spectre of whether a burgeoning team which had flourished with home backing during the Rugby Championship might have simply not been able to handle the pressure of packed cauldrons 'up North'.
"I'm not sure how much the crowd's got to do with it," retorted Rennie. "It's exciting for the boys to be up here. We talked a lot about embracing it and we're where we want to be.
"It's got more to do with us having to be accurate; you don't get many opportunities at this level, you've got to build pressure. We just didn't do that.
"Of course, it's a setback. The plan was to come over here and keep building on that [run of victories in the Rugby Championship and in Japan].
"Over here, they ask a lot of questions of you, put a lot of ball in the air, and play a lot of territory.
"You've got to be disciplined and you've got to be accurate - we were neither."
- Ian Chadband
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Spot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in timeā¦ he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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