Super Rugby: Showdown between David Pocock and Michael Hooper lives up to the hype
IT was a battle that lived up to the hype, and was a worthy preliminary to the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight.
IT was a battle that lived up to the hype,​ and was a worthy preliminary to the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight.
Rival opensides David Pocock and Michael Hooper went hammer and tongs at each other for 80 minutes at GIO Stadium on Friday night and fittingly, the pair walked off sporting the wounds of a prizefight.
Hooper required stitches in the double-digits for a head wound and Pocock dislocated a finger after a torrid battle, which had been touted as a showdown for the Wallabies no.7 jersey.
Both the Waratah and the Brumby openside flankers were outstanding but how the judges scored it remains to be seen, with both Hooper and Pocock yet again exhibiting different strengths.
Pocock was immense over the ball and if he wasn’t slowing down NSW’s ball, he was stealing it or forcing penalties.
Hooper was again strong running the ball but it was his defence that shone, with a belter on big Brumby no.8 Ita Vaea the most memorable of several massive hits.
“He was always pushing the line there to try to slow the ball down and got a few handy pilfers,” Waratahs no.9 Nick Phipps said of Pocock.
“But on the flip side, Hoops really defended the house down, he’s got about 20 new stitches that I don’t think the girls will be happy about. He’s all the way around the field and out running those wide edges and making ad-lines.
“Those two are both phenomenal players, it will be an interesting conundrum for Cheik to figure out later on. If Poey keeps playing like that they’ll be having a fair few wins at the back end of the year.”
Like many of of their state teammates, Hooper and Pocock spent Saturday icing their bruises next to each other in Canberra at a Wallabies gathering convened by Michael Cheika.
The Test coach said he wouldn’t keep a scorecard on the no.7 battle in his NSW coaches box, but would review the tape later with a more open mind.
The choice between Hooper and Pocock would be a selection migraine from hell but Cheika said post-match he agreed with Stephen Larkham’s view that Pocock is back to “career-best form” after two years of injury. And there’s only one way to feel about it, said Cheika.
“Very good, obviously. You can’t have enough players like that,” Cheika said.
“He has a strong belief in the way he plays the game, he stays true to that and you can only respect that. He plays very, very well for his team.”
Originally published as Super Rugby: Showdown between David Pocock and Michael Hooper lives up to the hype