Super Rugby season 2015: Waratahs’ Michael Hooper is the sport’s most durable player

HE is rugby’s Mr Indestructible, racking up an extraordinary number of games and metres without injury over the past five years.

Michael Hooper on the attack for NSW. NSW Waratahs Vs Wellington Hurricanes at Allianz Stadium on Saturday 3rd May 2014. Pic: Mitch Cameron

HE is rugby’s Mr Indestructible, racking up an extraordinary number of games and metres without injury over the past five years.

Michael Hooper, the Wallabies skipper and Waratahs vice-captain, is proving to be the game’s most durable player.

The Daily Telegraph calculates that since an injury he suffered in his first year playing in the Australian under-20s side in 2010, Hooper has been selected for 112 games in a row across all levels including international duty.

Amid that is a stretch of 59 consecutive Super Rugby games, the last of which was the final last year when Hooper held aloft the premiership trophy after leading NSW to their first title.

While AFL and NRL records stretch beyond 200 games, the sheer weight of long-haul travel faced by rugby union players makes Hooper’s statistics particularly astounding.

Michael Hooper’s remarkable durability has ensured he’s made 59 straight Super Rugby appearances.

For the past four seasons he has been among the top performers in the world while flying regularly to South Africa, Argentina, the United Kingdom and Europe.

And the stretch is truly remarkable considering that Hooper plays the most demanding position on the field, openside flanker, and has run an estimated 1000km during games in the past two years (he has been known to top nine kilometres in games).

During NSW’s triumphant campaign in 2014, Hooper played the most minutes (1440) of any player in Super Rugby, and ran for the most metres (929) and made the most tackle busts (41) by any forward.

Hooper’s injury-free run is reminiscent of the great Wallabies flanker George Smith, who also had an enviable capacity to string together numerous games despite an enormous workload.

But while Hooper is aware of his individual feats, he is far more concerned about NSW’s campaign to win successive titles, starting this Sunday afternoon in their opening game against Western Force at Allianz Stadium.

“It is something that hasn’t been done by an Australian team before, we’re excited about building in a new year,” Hooper said.

“Hopefully we’re in a situation towards the end of the season where we can start thinking about [defending the title].

“But that first game here on Sunday, hopefully there is a great crowd for it, will kick things off in the right way for us.

“We want to be a consistent team, the focus isn’t going back-to-back, it’s about being consistent.

“I think we have the playing group to do it, we haven’t changed too much from last year, and the exciting thing for us is not being content with what last year was.

“If we want to be a team that builds a quality season, we can’t be content with what we’ve achieved in the past.”

Michael Hooper: “Denno is very much captain of this team, he is doing such a great job”.

While Hooper is the national captain and led NSW ably to the championship last year in the absence of Waratahs regular captain Dave Dennis, he is very relaxed taking a backward step again now that Dennis is fit.

“Denno is very much captain of this team, he is doing such a great job,” Hooper said.

“My role, along with Adam Ashley-Cooper and Pat McCutcheon, is to do our best to support him, take the pressure off him so he can drive what the team is about and we can look after the other stuff.”

Hooper added: “Our slogan this year is ‘Playing for NSW’.

“We’ve got a whole range of guys in our team who are from different states, different countries. But playing for NSW, everyone felt a part of it last year, everyone loves living in Sydney and being involved with its people.”

Originally published as Super Rugby season 2015: Waratahs’ Michael Hooper is the sport’s most durable player