Jamie Roberts believes Wales will benefit from Michael Hooper’s enforced absence before their pool decider against Australia after the Wallabies flanker was suspended for a week by a World Cup judicial hearing.
Hooper, who was cited for an aggressive clearout of the full-back Mike Brown during Australia’s 33-13 victory against England, misses Saturday’s game at Twickenham which will decide who finishes top of Pool A and potentially avoids South Africa in the quarter-finals.
Hooper was a key player against England and admitted that he was “hugely disappointed” to miss the Wales match. His offence usually leads to a minimum two-week punishment and World Rugby said its independent judicial officer, Alan Hudson of Canada, had given a reduced sentence because it was a low-end infraction and Hooper had otherwise displayed good conduct and character.
Roberts, the Wales centre, said: “He’s one of their best players and he’s not playing so it’s certainly good for us, but I think Australia have depth in the squad and whoever comes in to play in the back row will be a really good player. They’re a team that showed on Saturday when they do get things right in attack they are one of the most dangerous teams. It’s one of the biggest defensive challenges we will have faced in the last few months if not the last year.”
The Wallabies full-back Israel Folau could also miss this weekend’s fixture following an ankle injury sustained against England, with Kurtley Beale a likely replacement if Folau is sidelined. The wing Rob Horne is set to miss out with a shoulder problem.
Hooper said: “I was a bit shocked to find out I was being cited from the weekend. However I think I had a fair trial and can move on and help the team be in the best position for this weekend and train with them. Personally you want to play in every Test match that you can. So straight away it’s a huge disappointment that I can’t be involved, and put myself forward for selection.”
Wales, who have not beaten Australia in their last 10 meetings, have a clean bill of health for a match that both teams are able to approach with a slightly more relaxed mindset than was initially expected following England’s dramatic elimination last weekend. The full-back Liam Williams has been declared fit after being concussed during the victory over England, after missing his side’s last game against Fiji. Roberts admits he was on edge while watching England’s game with Australia and described Pool A as brutal.
He said: “I was shaking for 80 minutes, it was like playing a game, I probably expended as much energy. A few of my mates were playing at Rosslyn Park so I watched it on a sofa in front of a big screen, I didn’t move. It was a bit awkward surrounded by a load of English, a bit of a strange one. I don’t think it takes any importance off this week. All is still up for grabs. It’s a brutal pool and there was always going to be three teams missing out. That’s what makes the World Cup so exciting. The questions being asked now of England having not qualified – we beat them by three points, one try, we could have lost that game in 10 minutes and England could have been going through. I feel a touch of sympathy purely because of the difficulty of the group and how ruthless it’s been.”
The Wallabies attack coach, Stephen Larkham, admitted that Hooper’s loss was a serious blow to the squad, but insisted that either Ben McCalman or Sean McMahon were ready to step into the breach. Michael Cheika, the head coach, will decide in the next 24 hours whether to move David Pocock, who was impressive at No8 against England, to openside flanker and bring in McCalman at No8 – or to keep Pocock where he is and bring in McMahon in the No7 slot.
“Michael has been tremendous so far and in fact the games before tournament he was stand out as well,” said Larkham. “It is hard to replace someone like that, but that’s the reason you have a squad of 31. We have a couple of excellent players waiting for their chance – and Ben McCalman and Sean McMahon have both done really well in the tournament.”
Larkham admitted he had been impressed by the way Wales had played against England and Fiji despite being decimated by injuries. “Those guys who came in against England made an impact, and the ones who started last week against Fiji did really well too. We have some are pretty significant injuries so we are focusing internally and not on the problems the other team has,” he said.
Larkham, who was fly-half when Australia last won the World Cup in 1999, also paid tribute to the team’s current No10 Bernard Foley, who scored 28 points in the victory over England, and said that they had worked together on improving his game. “We speak about little things together – communication, making sure he is clear with the game-calling sheet, going through multi-phase and getting support from the other playmakers out there,” he said.
“And he was in the right frame of mind for the England game, he was up for it. I have seen him play a number of good games. He has been consistent for a long time now.”
