MELBOURNE: A three-metre dart over the line at the Singapore Sevens was not the most spectacular way for Michael Hooper to bring up his first try in rugby’s short format, but the former Wallabies skipper may see it as a milestone on the way to the Olympics.
A tireless competitor through a bruising career in the 15-man game, Hooper was capped 125 times for Australia and ranks among the nation’s finest players in a difficult period for the Wallabies.
His late-career switch to sevens may count among the 32-year-old’s steepest challenges, though, as he battles to meet the athletic demands of the lower-profile sport. It was therefore a small mercy when team mate Dietrich Roache gift-wrapped his maiden try in a win over Canada last Friday with an offload from a scrum.
“I fell over the line well, didn’t I?” Hooper quipped. “That’s all I had to do. Two metres out and I just had to fall over the line, so if Dietrich can give me a couple more of those offloads, I’ll be happy.”
Hooper may be happy for any help in his bid for a spot in John Manenti’s Australia squad for the July 26 to Aug. 11 Olympics in Paris. Once seemingly indestructible, a long career in rugby took its toll on Hooper’s mental and physical health in recent years.
A calf injury played into Eddie Jones’s shock decision to omit Hooper from Australia’s World Cup squad last year. His transition to sevens, only confirmed in November, was set back by injuries, including an Achilles problem that delayed his international debut to last month’s Hong Kong Sevens.
Hooper will ultimately hope to join a small list of players to have won an Olympic medal and played tests, including South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe and Kwagga Smith. France scrumhalf Antoine Dupont is another test player bidding for a medal at Paris, having made a successful entry on the global sevens circuit this year.
Dupont’s interest has helped shoot France into medal contention and generated plenty of buzz for the Olympic tournament. Australia’s rugby sevens captain Nick Malouf believes Hooper could also boost their team’s chances of winning a maiden medal in the men’s event.
“He’s led the Wallabies for quite a period of time in big moments in big games,” Malouf told Reuters last month. “He understands what it takes and what good decisions look like and fostering a really good culture within a team. “He’s a lot of Australians’ favourite rugby player.”