It has been an incredibly tough few days for Australian rugby. After England unceremoniously dumped the men in gold out of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the feeling has been largely dour in the Australian camp.
With head coach Michael Cheika resigning among a throng of conspiracy about unhappiness at the top levels, it’s difficult to see Australian rugby at the top any time soon.
This video released by Rugby.com.au is, however, an example of just how brilliant their captain Michael Hooper is.
It has been widely agreed that Hooper is the best rugby player to come out of Australia for years, barring maybe Israel Folau or David Pocock, but what really sets him apart here is his composure amongst what can only be described as a torrent of questioning from the Australian press.
Can someone just say hello to Michael Hooperđ#ENGvAUS #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/hENEQVicUJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 20, 2019
On Saturday, England recorded their joint biggest win against Australia, equalling the 30-6 victory in November 2017.
It is the second time that England scored at least 40 points against the Wallabies. England won 44-40 in June 2016, the only other time England have scored 40 or more points.
England have defeated Australia in three different RWC quarter-finals. No other opponents have beaten the Wallabies once at this particular stage of the tournament.
In this video that we will show below, Michael Hooper faces some seriously tough questioning from the press on their return home from Japan.
Around the 5 minute mark of the video, Hooper appears to take exception to a comment that someone made walking past.
The reporters all say to Hooper, “No no, keep going let him go“, which would suggest that someone maybe made a negative comment to Hooper about the team as he walked past.
If this is the case, then Hooper showed tremendous restraint to not react to this form of negative heckling.
Watch the clip here, do you think someone was saying something negative to Hooper?
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