Three Wallabies coaches backed Michael Hooper as captain We should too
A lot of overblown statements are made in the build-up to major football matches â€" State of Origin tends to lead the way here â€" but in the countdown to the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions, former South African captain John Smit did come up with a useful gem.
Rugby, he said, is a mixture of calm and turmoil, all at the same time. And nowhere does that resonate more than with the captains.
It got me thinking about the man who has now captained Australia in 55 of his 108 Tests, a man who has never received the accolades he deserves, least of all from me.
Michael Hooper.
On Saturday, against the All Blacks, he will move into outright second place in the captaincy stakes, leaving John Eales behind. Now only George Gregan, with 59 Tests, remains in front of him. And while it is highly risky making definitive statements in this Covid environment, it’s a fair bet he will break the captaincy record some time during The Rugby Championship.
I have only one complaint against Hooper. The Wallabies don’t win enough under him.
Australia is a proud rugby nation with a long-standing tradition of winning more Tests than they lose â€" okay, so I have a good memory. And if the man who is leading them can’t get them home to more ‘W’s’ than ‘L’s’, then let’s get someone else. Hooper has a record of 22 victories from 50 Tests, a win rate of just 40 per cent. It all seemed brutally logical to me.
Michael Hooper of the Wallabies runs in to score a try against France.Credit:Getty
To drill down into his captaincy, it seems to me that he leads but does not direct. Or when he does direct, he is pointing in the wrong direction, usually to the sideline instead of the posts. There was a pleasing change of direction during the deciding Test against France last month but, generally speaking, he has been a loyal disciple of the Michael Cheika school of “kicking the door down†rugby.
There may be added benefits in kicking to the corner these days, now that the world’s best line-kicker Tom Banks is in the side and coach Dan McKellar is sharing his driving maul secrets with the Wallabies. Still, three points is three points and while goal-kicks will never be enough to break the All Blacks, even New Zealand succumbs to scoreboard pressure.
Three Wallabies coaches have now chosen him as their captain â€" Ewen McKenzie, Cheika and Dave Rennie. Three entirely different men but all saw something in Hooper that, evidently, they didn’t see in anyone else in the Wallabies squad.
True, things did not work out well for McKenzie and Hooper played a part in that. At 22, he was the youngest Wallabies captain since Ken Catchpole when McKenzie promoted him, which was probably too young. But never once have I heard McKenzie speak unkindly of him.
Rennie took his time in making his assessment of the man, both as a player and as a captain. But what he arrived at was a full appreciation of him in both roles. Certainly, there are now no signs of him making a change. Unless he does, and soon, it would mean that Hooper will lead the Wallabies to the 2023 World Cup. Once, that might have concerned me. Not so now.
Hooper has grown into the Wallabies captaincy.Credit:Getty
Hooper is like George Smith. Made of rubber. He bounces back, although standing over the ball, absorbing punishment, is not the core of his game. He never was, never will be a classic, ball-scavenging seven. That’s not his go. Critics have even suggested he could be recast as a 12. The linebreak he made against France and the awareness he showed to seek out support â€" Tate McDermott quickly loomed alongside of him â€" suggests inside centre could well have been his spot at Test level.
But he didn’t and Hunter Paisami doesn’t have cause to worry. Hooper will continue to play at seven, as he has always done. Over the years some of the most gifted openside flankers in Australian rugby history â€" David Pocock, Liam Gill, Sean McMahon â€" have to find other outlets for their skills, be it in another position or another country. Hooper kept doing his own unique thing and did it so well that no Wallabies coach has ever thought of dropping him or demoting him to the ranks.
He has led Australia through a period of turmoil â€" turmoil such as the game has never seen in this country â€" but always he displayed the calm that Smit spoke of. Perhaps it might be desirable for him to get a little more agitated against the All Blacks â€" after all, an angry 14-man Wallabies side did show what it could do against France â€" but that’s not really the Hooper style.
It has taken me a while to realise that if Hooper didn’t fit my definition of captaincy, then perhaps the fault was mine. Perhaps my definition was too narrow.
Sincere apologies, Michael.
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