Is this the last Test of Hooper’s captaincy?

Will the final match of the drawn-out 2020 season prove to be a convenient time to lower the curtain on Michael Hooper’s career as Australian captain?

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper represents a previous era of Australian rugby

Will the final match of the drawn out 2020 Australian rugby season, the Wallabies against the Pumas at Bankwest Stadium on December 5, prove to be a convenient time to lower the curtain on Michael Hooper’s career as Australian captain?

Hooper brought up his 100th Test in the Wallabies’ unlucky 16-16 draw against the All Blacks in Wellington on October 11, the width of the right-hand upright denying him a memorable victory in his milestone match as Reece Hodge’s bomb from 60m hit the post and bounced away. But it almost passed unnoticed when he registered his half-century as captain a few weeks later in the 24-22 victory over New Zealand in Brisbane.

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He became only the third Australian to captain the Wallabies in 50 or more Tests (win rate 44.11 per cent) and the two ahead of him — George Gregan who led the side in 59 of his 139 Tests (win rate 57.62 per cent), and John Eales captain in 55 of his 86 Tests (win rate 76.36 per cent) — both stand as legends of the game.

Given the cobbled-together nature of this year’s international program, it was hardly surprising new coach Dave Rennie opted to retain the incumbent captain. Hooper first led the side way back in 2014, barely a week after coach Ewen McKenzie named him vice-captain to Stephen Moore. But within a minute of the kick-off against France at Suncorp, Moore had broken his ankle and Hooper was thrust into the job for the remaining 13 Tests that year.

Moore returned to lead the Wallabies to the World Cup final in 2015 and carried on for another year as captain before relinquishing the position in 2017. He continued as an Australian player but from the opening Test of that year, against Fiji, it became Hooper’s side and that is the way it has remained ever since.

Yet he has become one of Australian rugby’s most polarising figures. His admirers – with Rennie at the top of a long queue – are in awe of his passion and commitment.

“He’s a good man with an outstanding work ethic and he’s a great role model for our young man coming through,” the coach said on confirming his appointment in September. “He is keen to lead and is highly respected by the Wallaby family.”

Still, Hooper has become a lightning rod for criticism any time the Wallabies perform less-than-brilliantly, which is to say quite often in recent years. Even after the 15-all draw against Argentina in Newcastle on Saturday night, he wore the bulk of the criticism for not taking the (relatively) easy points on offer and instead kicking to the corner and running the gauntlet of Australia’s mistake-prone lineout.

Of course, had the Wallabies won the Test seven penalties to five, say, Hooper would have been castigated for turning his back on attractive rugby.

Certainly Hooper has been tarred with the attack-at-all-costs mentality of former coach Michael Cheika but there is no doubting that criticism of his captaincy has become more strident this season. While he is a brilliant footballer, he would be, at best, only the third best openside flanker in the Wallabies and position-specific skills are the one thing Rennie’s side desperately lacks.

Moreover, Hooper leads by personal example yet this Australian team is built heavily around youth and sometimes what the players need most of all is clear directions from the captain’s mouth. That is not Hooper’s style.

In many respects, too, the Waratahs clique that ruled the Wallabies over the past five years has largely dissipated. Aside from Hooper, Rob Simmons and Ned Hanigan were the only other Waratahs in the starting side against Argentina and both are heading overseas at season’s end.

Hooper himself is planning to take a sabbatical in Japan with Top League side Toyota Verblitz from the start of next year and will miss most of the 2021 Super Rugby season.

He should return in time for the three-Test series against France but he turns 30 next year and if Rennie is planning for a younger captain to lead the team through to the 2023 World Cup, next year’s series against Les Bleus would be an ideal opportunity to make the change.

For the moment, however, Rennie is concentrating on the Pumas Test at Parramatta on Saturday week and praying that neither the All Blacks nor Argentina score a bonus point this weekend in Newcastle. The ideal outcome from Australia’s perspective would be another draw but a third draw in seven matches this season might be stretching the odds.

Rennie has released four players from his squad ahead of the Pumas Test. Lock Cadeyrn Neville, prop Jermaine Ainsley and backrower Isi Naisarani have all been sent back to their families, while Melbourne Storm grand final winger and new Reds recruit Suliasi Vunivalu – who was brought in to familiarise himself with the Wallabies’ environment – has been allowed to put an end to a dramatic season.