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Why ex-Wallabies captain Michael Hooper is wearing No.77 in SVNS

Michael Hooper is embraced by his Australia teammates after a trademark turnover in the final play of their win over Fiji. Picture: World Rugby.

Rugby fans are quite used to seeing Michael Hooper run around with the No. 7 on his back. The former Wallabies captain won four John Eales Medals, went to two Rugby World Cups and quite simply became an Australian rugby great with that digit on his jersey.

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But wearing two of them, now that’s something new. After being made to wait all day and into the night to debut, Michael Hooper ran out onto the sacred turf at Hong Kong Stadium while wearing the No. 77.

Hooper, 32, came on as a second-half substitute and practically made an immediate impact with a double tackle against Fiji. But that was just the start with ‘Hoops’ also getting the ball out wide once and of course getting stuck in around the breakdown.

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Finn Morton spoke with former Wallaby Michael Hooper after his SVNS Series debut. Picture: World Rugby.

With the final play of the match, Hooper’s crowning moment on debut came. The Australian may have had a new number on his back, but it was more of the same from the Test rugby veteran who won a penalty with some quick work at a ruck.

Australia had beaten Fiji 12-nil in front of a packed house at the world-famous rugby sevens venue. Hooper and his teammates walked off the field with smiles on their faces but questions still remained about the double digits on his jersey.

But as Hooper explained: “It’s really quite simple,” he told RugbyPass & SVNS Series with a smile. “Seven was taken so I thought I’d take two of them.”

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It was a tense start to the contest with both teams trading blows around midfield but the Australians took some control when James Turner crossed for the opener in the fifth minute.

Milestone man Henry Hutchison added another to the score during the second term as the match began to look like Australia’s lose.

Then, enter Michael Hooper. The former Wallaby was seen stretching on the sidelines before entering the fray of international rugby sevens for a scrum inside Australia’s half.

“Luckily for me, I think there were a couple of stoppages, a couple of knock-ons,” Hooper explained.

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“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.”

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Hellhound 29 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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