Report: Michael Hooper left out of Wallabies' World Cup squad
Longtime captain Michael Hooper has reportedly been left out of coach Eddie Jones's 33-man Wallabies squad for the Rugby World Cup.
The 125-Test veteran had been eyeing a third World Cup tournament.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that 31-year-old Hooper was told on Wednesday he would not be in the Australian squad to be announced on Thursday evening due to concerns over his calf injury.
Chosen as a co-captain by Jones, the flanker was underwhelming against South Africa in his only Test appearance under the new coach, no thanks to the injury that kept him out of the next three Tests.
In that time another Hooper - 22-year-old Tom - surged into the reckoning and long-time understudy Fraser McReight complemented him nicely in a new-look No.6 and No.7 combination.
Pete Samu is another backrower who provides sought-after flexibility during a major tournament while Jed Holloway and Rob Leota do the same in the second row and at No.6.
Hooper's apparent omission adds another element to the question of who will captain the Wallabies in their quest for a third World Cup title - and first in 24 years.
With Hooper injured and fellow co-captain James Slipper named on the bench, exciting halfback Tate McDermott, 24, was handed the captaincy for the first time when the Wallabies fired early before succumbing 23-20 to the All Blacks in Dunedin last weekend.
"(The World Cup captaincy) is a good question. Very good question," Jones said after that match.
"We've got to pick the squad first. And then we'll decide on captaincy but Tate is one of the candidates, a strong candidate."
Samu Kerevi (hand) and Taniela Tupou (rib) are also under injury clouds, so too centre Len Ikitau (shoulder).
But all three are expected to front up in Darwin before the side's official Sydney farewell.
The Wallabies, who have sunk to No.8 in the world, will play the host nation in a final World Cup tune-up on August 28 (AEST) before their opener against Georgia on September 10.
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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