Wallabies: Captain Michael Hooper to miss Test against Wales with foot injury

The Wallabies’ UK tour has gone from bad to worse, with injury claiming the biggest scalp of all in the lead-up to Australia’s Test against Wales.

Michael Hooper has been ruled out of Australia’s Test against Wales. Picture: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Veteran prop James Slipper will captain the Wallabies against Wales this weekend in the absence of regular skipper Michael Hooper, who will miss the Test with a sprained foot.

The Wallabies’ quest for a breakthrough win on their UK tour has copped a hammer blow with in-form Hooper’s injury.

Hooper, who has been nominated for the World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year award for his outstanding 2021 form, limped off in Australia’s 32-15 loss to England at Twickenham last Sunday morning.

Scans showed that the 30-year-old flanker has a grade two mid-foot sprain.

“`Hoops’ is a massive loss,” Wallabies back-rower Rob Valetini said.

“He’s our captain but (also) probably the biggest workhorse on our team, He never stops and that’s something that the team will miss.”

It will be the first game the in-form Hooper has missed since the start of Australia’s Dave Rennie coaching era last year.

Hooper will remain in the UK with the squad, who return home to Australia after the Test against Wales.

Michael Hooper tackles England’s Maro Itoje at Twickenham. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images

Pete Samu, who replaced Hooper in the Wallabies’ loss to England, looms as a likely starter in the captain’s absence, with Valetini also nominating Colby Fainga’a as a candidate.

“Both of them have our confidence and we trust them,” Valetini said.

While Hooper’s leadership will be missed, the appointment of 113-Test stalwart Slipper as stand-in captain was proved popular among the squad.
Flyhalf James O’Connor said: “It’s obviously devastating losing our captain ‘Hoops’ but the boys are pretty excited and there was a big roar when we heard that ‘Slips’ was captain.”

The Wallabies are desperate for redemption on Sunday morning (AEDT) at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Having started their UK tour on the back of five successive Test wins, the Australians have suffered back-to-back losses to Scotland and England.

If they are beaten again this weekend, they will become the first Wallabies team to lose all Tests on a tour of Europe since 1976.

Valetini said: “We want to end the tour on a high ... hopefully got out with a bang,

“We’ve had a tough year, a long year as well, and we want to go out there and put on a good 80-minute performance away from home as well, something that we can be happy with and head back home and be happy.

“We want to play a brand of football that we’re happy with, win, lose or draw, something that we can be proud of.”

Valetini said the Wallabies paid the price for “dumb” play against England.

“We were unable to fire a shot and as a playing group we thought we let ourselves down with our discipline.

“Some of the penalties we (gave away) were pretty dumb … offsides, high tackles, lifting tackles – that’s not ourselves.”

London Irish prop Ollie Hoskins, who made his Wallabies debut against England after being called into the squad last week, said it was essential the Wallabies played their “brand” of rugby.

“For someone whose come in towards the end of the tour, you can see how close the group is and how much they care for each other and how much they’re proud to represent the country,” Hoskins said.

“It’s massive for us as a playing group to make sure these guys hope on that plane back home with a sense of pride, and that people are happy with the efforts that we’ve put in.

“We spoke about making sure that we leave our stamp on the match and make sure we play the brand of rugby that Australia’s known for and worked so well for them earlier in the year.”

Originally published as Wallabies: Captain Michael Hooper to miss Test against Wales with foot injury