‘Was pretty nervy: What Michael Hooper thought of SVNS debut against Fiji

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 50^th international sevens tournament, and others in gold jerseys followed closely behind – including Hooper who was near the back.

“Here comes the big man”

Michael Hooper makes his #HSBCSVNS debut 😍#HSBCSVNSHKG | @Aussie7s pic.twitter.com/8mtTNcyPzn

— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) April 5, 2024

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.”