Michael Hooper says ‘Australian way’ of rugby isn’t working and playing ugly may be the answer
After months of painful reflection on where it all went wrong at last year’s World Cup, Michael Hooper says the Wallabies must abandon the high-risk, high-reward approach that became the hallmark of the former coach.
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Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper has too much respect and admiration for Michael Cheika to ever doubt his former coach after all the success they had together.
But after months of painful reflection on where it all went wrong for the Wallabies at last year’s World Cup, Hooper has come to the realisation that Australia won’t get their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup again until they change their tactics.
And the first thing that has to change is the fallacy Cheika perpetuated that Wallaby supporters only want to see the team play the “Australian way” – attacking with the ball in hand at every opportunity.
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That high-risk, high-reward approach worked a treat when the Waratahs won the 2014 Super Rugby title and Australia made the 2015 World Cup final but the limitations of that style were exposed when the Wallabies were smashed by England in the quarter-finals at last year’s World Cup.
As captain, Hooper took the loss harder than anyone but watching the Springboks go on and win the tournament, and the wild celebrations that followed in South Africa, taught him that winning ugly can be beautiful, too.
“In terms of the game style, the ‘Australian way’, I think we need to find a winning way to play rugby,” he said.
“That needs to be the reality of it, whatever that looks like.”
If admitting to past mistakes is the first step to recovery, Hooper’s promise that the Wallabies will now do whatever it takes to regain the World Cup will be music to the ears of fans who watched in disbelief as the Wallabies handed the Poms victory on a platter in Japan last year.
The pain from that defeat is still so raw that Hooper hasn’t been able to watch a replay but he’s had heart-to-heart talks with teammates determined to never let that happen again.
“I know for me personally, it’s always going to be something I will have with me, just wondering ‘what if’,” Hooper said.
“The important thing is that we pull out some of the stuff that we would do differently and learn from the failures and take something and run with it.
“With the discussion I’ve had with a lot of the players, we feel 100% motivated to have a look at things differently.”
That doesn’t mean the Wallabies will abandon running rugby completely because Hooper still thinks that could yet prove the most effective way to win a World Cup, but the key for the Wallabies is to become flexible enough to adapt to different opponents.
‘I’d play’: Wallabies skipper up for hybrid challenge
Newlywed Wallabies captain Michael Hooper says he’s intrigued by the idea of a hybrid game between rugby union and rugby league and would be up for the challenge if it went ahead.
A proposal for the Kangaroos and the All Blacks fell through when New Zealand Rugby decided to focus all their efforts on creating their own domestic competition, but the concept of a blockbuster match between the codes refuses to go away.
“If a game got off the ground, would I play? Yeah,” Hooper said. “It’d be good to test yourself in that environment, it’d be cool.”
Although the chances of a hybrid match proceeding remain slim, the global pandemic means nothing can be discounted.
“It’s good to fantasise about but, in reality, you‘d just have to get the union team to play rugby league because the rugby union side of things are too far removed from rugby league.”
In a wide-ranging interview, his first since the COVID-19 lockdown, Hooper revealed that he married his sweetheart Kate Howard in a private ceremony near his Manly home and he was convinced, more than ever, that Australian Rugby had a bright future.
Could an Australian competition succeed without New Zealand teams?
“I don’t think we’re dead in the water without them. I don’t think we need to be attached at the hip. I’ve really been enjoying this competition and there’s plenty of other nations around as well. There’s so many possibilities.
“I think (Super Rugby AU) is only getting better because now you’ve got points on the board, now you’ve got rankings, you’re getting closer to Wallaby selection where all the talk in the papers really starts to amp up.”
On the option of taking an overseas sabbatical
“The horizon for me is the 2023 World Cup. I’ve been in two World Cup cycles and they come around quickly, so that is an end goal to be there with a team that’s had a couple of years together to really work with each other and be the best we can.
“Within that, I want to grow as a player and be the best I can possibly be as the years come on. I’m on the other side of the hump now, I’m closer to the finish than the start.
“Turning 29 in October, that’s probably the reality of it, so you start to think what can I get out of this in the years I have left and that’s wanting to squeeze the most out of it.
“You never say never but right now the focus is Waratahs.”
On Joseph Suaalii rejecting NRL to stick with rugby
“I’m not across the numbers or any of that but it is great that we’re in the conservation for someone who is clearly a real talent, just from the amount of buzz.
“It wouldn’t just be pulled out of thin air and where there’s smoke there’s fire and this kid seems to have a lot about him.
“It’s exciting for rugby to be in this conversation and it’s also exciting that hopefully as a business we’re able to start looking at the future and contracting and stuff like that.
“I met him a couple of years ago and he was towering over me, which isn‘t hard, but he would have only been 14 at the time.”
On being involved in the RUPA pay talks
“It was difficult. My expectations from that role at the start of the year to how it turned out were worlds apart. The main thing on the cards this year was the CBA deal, which was going to be the end of the year but then COVID happened so I never expected to be involved in that capacity.
“It was really tough, the key difference being here that it wasn’t just solely a rugby issue, it was something that affected everyone, everywhere in the world, so that sort of gave it a bit of a soft landing for what really does suck, not only for us but everyone else in the business because so many people were impacted worldwide and losing jobs.”
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On captaining the Wallabies
“I haven’t discussed this stuff with (Wallabies coach) Dave (Rennie), he’s just getting sorted in the country. I’ve always said with that role that it’s a privilege bestowed upon you by your team. For myself, if that happens again, then I’ll do my absolute best to captain the team because I’ve learnt a lot in the short period of time as captain.
“If not, then I’ll do my best to bring what I can to the table for the Wallabies because that’s the way I‘ve always approached it.”
On tying the knot
“Like everything this year, we had to change plans, we had to manoeuvre. It was meant to be December 12 but for heaps of reasons we decided to bring it forward. The outcome was certainly much different than we originally expected but we had such a great day.
“Because of all the restrictions, it was really hard to find a place that would do it last minute but I had a couple of mates who worked at The Boathouse Group and we got it done last minute. With all the restrictions, we only had 20 people there but it was awesome.”
Originally published as Michael Hooper says ‘Australian way’ of rugby isn’t working and playing ugly may be the answer
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