‘We’re good to go,’ says Hooper

JAMIE PANDARAM AFTER 15 successive years of gut-wrenching disappointment, Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has declared the words Australian fans want to hear: “We’re ready”.

Hooper and his men are confident of creating history by becoming the first Australian team since 2002 to win the Bledisloe Cup series against the All Blacks, and must start by winning tonight’s opener at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

“We’ve got to a point here where we’re ready, we’re good to go,” Hooper said.

“The expectation is only as great as the one we put on ourselves, and that’s high.”

Not since Matt Burke kicked a penalty goal after the fulltime siren at the same ground on August 3, 2002, to give his side a 16-14 win in front of 79,543 fans, has Australia held the trophy.

The All Blacks come into the game as raging favourites, with a plethora of superstars making them the Dream Team of world rugby.

But Hooper has no doubt that if the Wallabies can impose their game plan on the Kiwis, they’ll be victorious.

“That is very much what we’re going to do this week, stick to our stuff, bring ourselves back and play our game,” Hooper said.

“Our game is ready to go against these guys.

“Plenty is made about the history, plenty is made about the time, but all we can speak for is this group here right now.

“And right now we’re happy with our prep, we’ve been happy with what the players have been putting in during the week, and they’re different players to who were here last year.

“I look around and I see world-class players across our team, so reaching their potential into a world-class, top team, exactly that.”

The Wallabies will use the fighting spirit of one of their own, former international Richard Tombs, as inspiration.

The players flexed their muscles in honour of Tombs at their final training run, after the former Wallaby suffered a serious spinal injury playing soccer.

Tombs remains in hospital but has regained movement in his fingers and been taken off a breathing machine.

Given the second Test will be played in Auckland, where the Wallabies have not won since 1986, it’s imperative Australia claims the first of the three-Test series on home soil.

“There’s no easy way around this thing, it’s going to be hard and that’s why different teams, different players, have struggled over the course of however many years,” Hooper said.

“It is going to be hard and we like it that way. We like that we get the first Test in Sydney, it’s always fun to come out here and it’s going to be a great day for rugby. “Bring it on.” Hooper has overcome a hamstring injury to be cleared for his return.

Hooper and fellow backrowers David Pocock and Lukhan Tui must dominate the ruck battle against rivals Kieran Read, Sam Cane and Liam Squire.

“The speed of the ruck is so important at Test level,” Hooper said. “Yes, set piece has a part in handling momentum. But being able to maintain our ball and slow their ball is paramount.” THE Wallabies need to take a leaf out of the Waratahs’ attacking playbook if they are to stand any chance of beating the All Blacks in tonight’s Bledisloe Cup series’ opener in Sydney.

Australian teams are still short of where they need to be, but there were some strong signs in the latter stages of the Super Rugby competition.

And semi-finalists the Waratahs led the way in breaking the dominance of the Kiwis. The attacking structure set up by assistant coach Chris Malone suited Kurtley Beale, Israel Folau and Bernard Foley, allowing some of our best players to get one-on-one opportunities in space out wide.

I’m hopeful Stephen Larkham, the Wallabies’ attack coach, has a similar mindset.

Beale was in pretty hot form for the Waratahs all year.

His ability to work with Foley has really impressed me, in the way they’re able to interchange between first receiver and second receiver and choose when to get width in the game or when to hit their forwards to get across the advantage line.

But they have to get the ball on the front foot. And that’s the challenge against the All Blacks, who have got such a good defensive line.

We’ve got a team now, especially in the forward pack, that believe in each other, that have some size, have some physicality.

And then you’ve got David Pocock and Michael Hooper.

The way the series is structured now we have to win the first Test. There’s no point losing the first two (with the second in Auckland) and maybe winning the third in Tokyo and going “great, we got close”. Now’s the time to strike – and get one hand on the Cup.