Eddie Jones torpedoed his Rugby World Cup and injury denied an Olympic swansong.
But former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper may still get an international farewell, with the decorated flanker being considered for a spot in the ANZAC invitational team to meet the British and Irish Lions in Adelaide in July.
Hooper retired from Australian rugby last year after missing the cut for the Australian sevens Olympic team, but announced a professional comeback last week, signing on as injury cover for Toyota Verblitz in the Japanese League One competition.
The 33-year-old played for Toyota in 2021 and a recent injury to Springbok superstar Pieter-Steph du Toit saw coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster reach out to the former Wallabies skipper.
Hooper hasn’t played since a series of friendlies against Fiji in sevens last May, in a late push to prove his fitness and make the Australian sevens team for the Paris Olympics. He suffered osteitis pubis trying to transition to sevens and was ultimately left out of the 12-man squad for the Games.
That came after Hooper was denied the chance for an international farewell at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, having been contentiously left out of the squad by Jones. Hooper’s last game of 15-a-side rugby was for the Barbarians in November, 2023.
Michael Hooper joined the Australian sevens squad in 2024 to try and make the Olympics.Credit: Rugby Australia
Hooper was this year due to continue in his role as a pundit on Stan, and help coach at the Manly Marlins. But at the relatively young age of 33, Hooper told Wide World of Sports last week he still felt keen to play.
“There is still a little part of me that would like to see if I could mix it again,” he said. “I’m just stoked. It’s a bit of a Hail Mary that we didn’t see coming.”
Hooper, who said he’d have to swiftly get his body back into professional rugby condition, is due to see out the season for Toyota in League One, which concludes in May. And the comeback has also opened the door for Hooper to play against the British and Irish Lions for a second time.
James Slipper, Eddie Jones and Michael Hooper ahead of a Test against South Africa in July, 2023. It was Hooper’s last Test.Credit: Getty
Hooper, who was a youngster in the Wallabies in the Lions’ tour of Australia in 2013, has now come into serious contention to play for – and possibly even captain – the Australia and New Zealand XV, who meet the Lions in a tour game on July 12 at Adelaide Oval.
Given the All Blacks are playing France at the same time, Rugby Australia is instead planning to build out the trans-Tasman flavour by recruiting some star Kiwi and Australian players based in Japan, France and England; the likes of Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, Brodie Rettalick and even Hooper’s new Toyota teammate Joey Manu.
“It’s great to see ‘Hoops’ lacing up the boots again,” Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said.
“We are in the process of building out those squads, and we are talking to experienced, high-profile international players, to make sure we have as big a spectacle as possible and create a fantastic product for the fans. It is only a week out from the first Test so we are committed to making it a fantastic game and spectacle.
“If he was available, and I haven’t spoken to Hoops, but I imagine if he was available, he’d be a strong option as far as being a hugely experienced player with a high profile.”
While the side will also contain Australian players, the Lions have made it clear they don’t want one of the six tour games to be an effective fourth Test against an Australia A team. That also led to the Rebels fixture in Melbourne being replaced by a Pasifika/Indigenous invitational team.
Hooper’s return raises the further prospect of involvement with the Wallabies proper, similar to the shock recall of George Smith from overseas in 2013, which saw Hooper relinquish his starting no.7.
That might seem like a bridge too far, given Hooper’s time away from the game and Fraser McReight’s ascension as a world-class star.
But it’s not impossible, either. Sources with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke anonymously due to their confidential nature, said Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt spoke with Hooper at the start of 2024 about playing on, and the Western Force even tried to recruit him for 2025.
Hooper has indicated he has closed the door on Super Rugby, but there is still some potential for the four-time John Eales medallist to not only play for the ANZAC team in Adelaide but for one of the Super sides in a Lions tour game as well.
Informed sources said with Wallabies players likely unavailable for tour matches, RA have discussed the idea of supplementing the Super sides with select Wallabies veterans from offshore to enhance the competitiveness of the teams.
