Captain Michael Hooper is set to return to training with Wallabies teammates next week before a potential return on Australia’s five-Test tour of Europe in October and November.
The 121-Test breakaway missed the Rugby Championship after withdrawing from the Wallabies team to play Argentina in Mendoza in early August. Explaining he wasn’t in the “right mindset” to lead the Wallabies, Hooper flew home and has been on leave since.
The 30-year-old has remained in frequent dialogue with Wallabies coach Dave Rennie and general manager Chris Webb, and wants to get back on the training field with a view to a return for the spring tour.
The squad for the tour, in which the Wallabies play Scotland on October 30, and then France, Italy, Ireland and Wales, will be named in mid-October.
Hooper has been training on his own but the next planned step will be joining other Sydney-based Wallabies at one of the pre-tour training hubs being run across the states. Discussions about whether Hooper goes on tour will continue after his return to squad training.
Rennie and Rugby Australia have made it clear they’re prepared to give Hooper as long as required to make a comeback.
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper will return to training next week.Credit:Getty
The Wallabies have been well-served at No.7 in the Rugby Championship, with Fraser McReight and Pete Samu playing well in Hooper’s absence. Samu, in particular, has enjoyed a breakout season and was among the Wallabies’ best when promoted to starting openside in the Bledisloe Cup series.
The Wallabies are confident Bernard Foley will be cleared to join the tour as one of the Wallabies’ Giteau Law picks after positive discussions with his Japanese club Kubota.
Foley is keen to tour after returning from three years in the Wallabies wilderness to play in two Tests against New Zealand, and hopes to push for World Cup selection next year. Other Japan-based players, notably Marika Koroibete, will not be selected for the spring tour, as part of a peace deal struck with clubs and the Wallabies, but Foley’s case is different given he has not been playing as much.
It is likely Foley will be available only for the first four Tests, however.
Bernard Foley is a likely starter for the Wallabies’ spring tour.Credit:Getty
Wallabies management is also set to name France-based second-rower Will Skelton in the tour squad for a second consecutive year. Locks are thin on the ground, with Rory Arnold one of the Japan-based players not considered, and Darcy Swain not available for the first two Tests due to suspension.
Rennie will hold off naming his spring tour squad until after Australia A’s three-game tour of Japan, which begins with a match against a Japan XV in Tokyo on Saturday. Games in Fukuoka and Osaka follow.
Meanwhile, French referee Mathieu Raynal has claimed Foley “forced” him to make the controversial time-wasting decision at the end of the Bledisloe Cup clash in Melbourne.
Speaking to French media after winning the Top 14 referee of the year award, Raynal said he stood by the call.
“I told a player five times to kick the ball to touch. I couldn’t do otherwise,” Raynal said. “It’s not me who decided to make the decision, it was the player who forced me to make it.
“I take total responsibility for what I did, 100 per cent. I had a necessary reason for making the decision, even if it was a strong one which caused people to talk.
“I try to do what is the most fair. That’s at the heart of my job.”
Raynal said he had a “calm” conversation with Rennie post-game.
The Wallabies requested clarification from World Rugby and Rennie said last week they “agreed” with Australia’s position, which argued Raynal’s communication in English to Foley was not clear.
Raynal said he’d deleted social media and news apps from his phone to avoid the controversy. He occupied his time playing Candy Crush, instead.
