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Michael Hooper ruled out of Wallabies' tour finale against Wales
By AAP
The Wallabies' hopes of salvaging some spring-tour pride have suffered a hammer blow with inspirational captain Michael Hooper ruled out of Saturday's Test with Wales in Cardiff.
Hooper hobbled off during the second half of the weekend loss to England and scans have subsequently revealed a grade-two mid-foot sprain.
The champion flanker will stay with the squad this week before returning to Sydney with the rest of the Wallabies on Sunday.
Officials say there's been no timeline placed on Hooper's recovery given the Wales clash is Australia's last match of the year.
The Wallabies head to Millennium Stadium hoping to avoid a first winless spring tour of Europe since 1976.
A 15-13 defeat to Scotland preceded last Saturday's 32-15 loss to England at Twickenham.
Hooper's value to the Wallabies was underlined on Monday night when the back-rower was short-listed for the 2021 World Rugby player of the year award.
Teammate and centre Samu Kerevi was also nominated along with French halfback Antoine Dupont and English lock Maro Itoje.
No Australian has ever won the award despite 13 nominations over its 21-year history.
Winger Andrew Kellaway earned a nod in the breakthrough player of the year category after bagging eight tries in 11 Tests since making his debut against France in July.
And Dave Rennie has been nominated for the coach of the year after steering the Wallabies to a series win against France and back-to-back victories over the world champion Springboks during the Rugby Championship.
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Latest Comments
Were you shocked by Sexton trying to rip Barrett's head off when he scored that final try in that return game?
Sexton once again the beneficiary of incredible double standards. Some of the rules simply didn't apply to him. The referee even watched that replay about 5 times in slow motion to see if he grounded the ball. If an NZ player had made that tackle it would have been a yellow card.
Ireland led by Sexton were the biggest bunch of whingers to ever play the game. NZ's dislike of Ireland was not caused by losing to them, it was caused by the Irish players, commentators and media being such giant crybabies.
I genuinely think Ireland are the best team in the world, and I think they will beat the ABs on Friday, but they are by some distance the team I like the least, and I know many people, not just from NZ, who feel the same.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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