Hooper shows his class in best Wallaby tradition
A BRIEF encounter with Ian Chappell long ago served as early notice to be wary of Australian Test captains. Quite why the air in Swansea turned blue during the tourists’ three-day match against Glamorgan has been lost in the mists of time other than that Chappell was not in the best of moods.
A question from a Sunday paper colleague prompted him to blow a fuse and storm back to the dressing-room, smoke billowing out of both ears. That Chappell admitted years later a preference for his team to be described as ‘a bunch of bastards’ rather than ‘a nice bunch of blokes’ came as no surprise.
Speak as you find. Having dealt with a succession of Australian Test captains in the half century since Chappell’s rant, it’s hard to remember a bad word but then all wore a Wallaby on their chest as opposed to a baggy green on their head.
Mark Ella, Andrew Slack, Michael Lynagh and John Eales were not so much captains as ambassadors for their country and their sport. Their current leader, Michael Hooper, is cut from the same cloth.
Tough as old boots on the field, Hooper goes out of his way off it to uphold old values like sportsmanship. A week after presenting Aaron Smith with a framed photograph to mark the All Black’s century of Tests, Hooper found himself called to speak moments after prolonging the annual habit of losing the Bledisloe Cup.
A lesser man would have made himself scarce. Despite going down by a record score, Hooper fronted up, answering every question fully when others would have resorted to a few sour monosyllables.