Saint-Etienne: The news all Australian rugby fans had hoped to hear has been confirmed.
Wallabies stalwart Michael Hooper will make his international return in Australia’s run-on side against Scotland this weekend in Edinburgh.
By the time Saturday’s match (Sunday 3.30am AEDT) at Murrayfield rolls around, Hooper won’t have played a Wallabies Test for 105 days.
For a player who has been the heart and soul of the team for a decade, barely missing a minute, it seems like an eternity.
The 121-Test veteran will don the gold No.7 jersey he has worn for 10 years with pride.
Hooper, whose last Test was against England in mid-July at the SCG, withdrew from Australia’s tour of Argentina in August, citing “mindset” issues.
Michael Hooper at Wallabies training in France ahead of the team’s clash against Scotland.Credit:Andrew Phan/Wallabies Media
After an extended break, which meant missing Australia’s two Bledisloe Cup Tests, Hooper is adamant he’s right to return to the rigours of Test rugby.
Although he won’t captain the side – that honour will remain with prop James Slipper for the tour – Hooper’s inclusion is a major boost for the Wallabies ahead of their first match of a gruelling five-Test European tour.
Hooper has been in a relaxed mood this week at the team’s French base in Saint Etienne.
The 30-year-old was right in the thick of it at training on Tuesday and putting his body on the line in contact sessions.
“With Hoops just comes massive experience,” said Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki. “He’s a great man. He keeps people accountable. He’s come back refreshed. It’s unreal having him back in. He’s calming to the group.
“There’s a stigma in rugby that it might be taboo to speak up about things going on in your life. We were all incredibly proud to be a part of Hoops in the way that he had to approach certain things.
“I think everyone already had enough respect for him but just for him in his position in rugby in Australia to come out and be brave and address that, credit to him.”
The Wallabies will officially name their team to play Scotland on Thursday evening at 10pm AEDT.
Hooper spoke for the first time this week about his return to the Wallabies.
“I’ve got high expectations of myself,” Hooper said. “Pulling out of a game is certainly right up there with something I couldn’t have seen myself doing. Of course it was hard,” he said.
“I’d been playing the game for a long time, had some great changes in my life happen this year and I think there were a lot of things running through my head that showed up in Argentina. Argentina wasn’t the place where I could sort those things out.
“I wanted to be around family, I wanted to be in a place that I could put the time in that I wanted to put in.
“That doesn’t mean now that I’m sitting here completely cured, it’s not like that at all. But at that point in time I needed to be somewhere else and that wasn’t Argentina. I know that’s quite vague but I’m still getting my head around it.”
Watch all the action from the Wallabies Spring Tour with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Kicks off this weekend with Japan v All Blacks (Saturday 4pm AEDT) and Scotland v Wallabies (Sunday 3:10am AEDT).
