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‘Was pretty nervy: What Michael Hooper thought of SVNS debut against Fiji
By Finn Morton
Michael Hooper has played more than 120 Test matches in the 15s game, is a four-time John Eales Medallist, and the former Wallabies captain can now add SVNS Series debutant to his incredible rugby resume.
Hooper, 32, was made to wait for his first match at the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens on Friday, with the likes of South Africa and New Zealand playing both of their fixtures before Australia’s opening pool clash.
But on a beautiful night in Hong Kong China, thousands of vibrant rugby fans momentarily stood silent as Australia prepared to take the field for their Pool A clash with traditional SVNS HKG heavyweights Fiji.
Henry Hutchison led the team out to celebrate his 50th international sevens tournament, and others in gold jerseys followed closely behind – including Hooper who was near the back.
Hooper came on as a replacement late in the second-half but almost immediately made an impact with an impressive double tackle. ‘Hoops’ also got the ball out wide in space once and sealed the 12-nil win with a trademark steal at the breakdown in the final play.
“Luckily for me, I think there were a couple of stoppages, a couple of knock-ons,” Hooper told RugbyPass & SVNS Series.
“I’ve heard about the humidity here in Hong Kong and there’s a nice breeze but the ball is still quite wet.
“That allowed for me to catch my breath a couple of times.
“I think that game suited me there,” he added later.
“It wasn’t too expansive, it wasn’t just (defending) in open field which I’m really learning and seeing it’s a different art in sevens.
“That game was a lot of rough and tumble in the middle of the field. Pleased that it kept it to that for the first hit out.”
Australia’s James Turner opened the scoring out wide in the fifth minute and milestone man Henry Hutchison added another try to their lead during the second term.
The Aussies raced out to a 12-nil lead over the now-Osea Kolinisau-coached Fiji side, and did so with their marquee debutant watching on from the sidelines.
After waiting all day to play, Hooper was made to wait just that little bit longer to officially take the field on the SVNS Series. But when he began to stretch late in the contest, the camera quickly panned to the former Wallaby.
Anticipation for Hooper’s debut continued to grow and grow, and eventually, fans were rewarded for their patience – and so was Hooper – as the Australian rugby legend graced the international sevens field for the first time on the Series.
“My nerves started going up and up and up,” Hooper reflected.
“We get two tries up but I know that Fiji can score two tries in about two seconds, so to come on in the dying minutes there was pretty nervy.
“I came on, Nick Malouf was great, guided me around. I just made my tackles, I made a few of those over my career so just stick to the script.”
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Latest Comments
We beat Wales. Oh wow.
Go to commentsAs has been the way all year, and for all England's play I can remember. I missed a lot of the better years under Eddie though.
Lets have a look at the LQB for the last few games... 41% under 3 sec compared to 56% last week, 47% in the game you felt England best in against NZ, and 56 against Ireland.
That was my impression as well. Dunno if that is a lack of good counterattack ball from the D, forward dominance (Post Contact Meters stats reversed yesterday compared to that fast Ireland game), or some Borthwick scheme, but I think that has been highlighted as Englands best point of difference this year with their attack, more particularly how they target using it in certain areas. So depending on how you look at it, not necessarily the individual players.
You seem to be falling into the same trap as NZs supporters when it comes to Damien McKenzie. That play you highlight Slade in wasn't one of those LQB situations from memory, that was all on the brilliance of Smith. Sure, Slade did his job in that situation, but Smith far exceeded his (though I understand it was a move Sleightholme was calling for). But yeah, it's not always going to be on a platter from your 10 and NZ have been missing that Slade line, in your example, more often than not too. When you go back to Furbank and Feyi-Waboso returns you'll have that threat again. Just need to generate that ball, wait for some of these next Gen forwards to come through etc, the props and injured 6 coming back to the bench. I don't think you can put Earl back to 7, unless he spends the next two years speeding up (which might be good for him because he's getting beat by speed like he's not used to not having his own speed to react anymore).
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