Michael Hooper cited over alleged 'punch'

[taylor]

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. If Hooper wasn't a Waratah I think he wouldn't be such an automatic selection. I think his style is excellent for super rugby,(like Higgenbottem) but not what test football requires. I prefer Pocock. Fardy and Benny Mac- but that's just who I would select.

[andrewg]

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. If Hooper wasn't a Waratah I think he wouldn't be such an automatic selection. I think his style is excellent for super rugby,(like Higgenbottem) but not what test football requires. I prefer Pocock. Fardy and Benny Mac- but that's just who I would select.

Although we've only had 2 Tests in the TWC it's still useful to run a comparison between Pocock and Hooper.

Attachment 3955

Attachment 3956

Both players have played the same number of minutes; about 1.5 games.

Pocock has shown the better running game with more ball carries and more m/carry plus more Def Beaten, Clean Breaks and Offloads.
He makes more Handling Errors than Hooper.

Pocock has shown the better tackling game with more tackles and zero tackles missed.

Both players have had the same number of ruck involvements.
Pocock has slightly earlier arrival and more impact.
Hooper has been strong in supporting the Wallaby ball carriers.
Pocock has been strong in putting pressure on the opposition ball.

Pocock has had a Turn Over Won rate of 1 TOW per 3 Defensive Rucks.
Hooper has had a TOW rate of 1 TOW per 6 Defensive Rucks.

Due to his extra involvement in Defensive Rucks, Pocock gets penalised at 2 x Hooper's penalty rate.

Hopper has scored a Try and 1 Try Assist.

Remember, the Wallabies were up against very different opposition.

However, at this stage I have no doubt as to who should be the starting NO 7.

It will be interesting to have another look after the 2 games against the ABs.

[Buddha Handy]

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. If Hooper wasn't a Waratah I think he wouldn't be such an automatic selection. I think his style is excellent for super rugby,(like Higgenbottem) but not what test football requires. I prefer Pocock. Fardy and Benny Mac- but that's just who I would select.

Yes the old NSW bias again. Did you watch Hooper play against South Africa? Did you see some of the hits he made. Stats like below don't tell the whole story. Hooper made at least 3 big hits in that game against blokes twice his size. That sort of stuff can lift the whole team. I agree that Pocock should be starting ahead of him but Hooper is also a quality player and they are 2 of the only world class players we have so both need to fit in somewhere.

[yungfen]

Yes the old NSW bias again. Did you watch Hooper play against South Africa? Did you see some of the hits he made. Stats like below don't tell the whole story. Hooper made at least 3 big hits in that game against blokes twice his size. That sort of stuff can lift the whole team. I agree that Pocock should be starting ahead of him but Hooper is also a quality player and they are 2 of the only world class players we have so both need to fit in somewhere.

Agreed that stats do not necessarily reflect the real quality and contribution of a player in a game.
For example 1 long run (>15m) makes the whole runs per carry invalid as 1 defender would have been beaten in most probably a line which was shuffling to cover. The attacking player looks good with 20m but realistically any player with a little bit of pace from a good pass into space would have done the same amount of metres. True that you need to run the proper line to do that, but at that level they should pretty much all be able to pick the right line when there is space available. Whereas someone who catches the ball in a busy area and goes past the advantage line (1-2m) gives as much momentum if the support is there and a quick phase is created with the defence on the backfoot as they need to get back onside. That is why raw stats should not be a way to say that a player is better than another, but rather supplement your thought about who is better than the other.
I personally think that Pocock is a better 7 than Hooper, but they both are world class in my eyes and we are lucky to have such players vying for such an important position.

[GIGS20]

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. If Hooper wasn't a Waratah I think he wouldn't be such an automatic selection. I think his style is excellent for super rugby,(like Higgenbottem) but not what test football requires. I prefer Pocock. Fardy and Benny Mac- but that's just who I would select.

Yeah, look I can't agree with you there. I'm amongst the loudest of the Hooper is crap brigade, but he has proven to be a valuable addition to the team in both attack and defense as long as the lack of a him at the breakdown is covered in some way.

He completely owned the Springboks with immense line speed once they had to worry about securing ball at the breakdown and commit more than one player to it. Like I said before, his jump-start off the scrum to catch the Boks in their own in-goal is something that Pocock simply cannot do.

If one of them were taller, I'd suggest we try both of them for 80 minutes, but in reality, Hooper needs to give way to Pocock and be the bench impact player (preferably for when Skelton gets tired after 45 minutes and starts to bludge)

[Buddha Handy]

Yeah, look I can't agree with you there. I'm amongst the loudest of the Hooper is crap brigade, but he has proven to be a valuable addition to the team in both attack and defense as long as the lack of a him at the breakdown is covered in some way.

He completely owned the Springboks with immense line speed once they had to worry about securing ball at the breakdown and commit more than one player to it. Like I said before, his jump-start off the scrum to catch the Boks in their own in-goal is something that Pocock simply cannot do.

If one of them were taller, I'd suggest we try both of them for 80 minutes, but in reality, Hooper needs to give way to Pocock and be the bench impact player (preferably for when Skelton gets tired after 45 minutes and starts to bludge)

Exactly. We can't have Skelton struggling through to 80 minutes when players like Hooper, McCalman are only playing 40-50 and could easily last 80

[Macattack]

I am a huge Benny Mac fan, however, the scrum didn't seem to lack power when Poey came into 8. So I am OK if Cheika decides to start with both of them, I would just have Ben as the third backrower, ahead of Fardy.

[GIGS20]

I am a huge Benny Mac fan, however, the scrum didn't seem to lack power when Poey came into 8. So I am OK if Cheika decides to start with both of them, I would just have Ben as the third backrower, ahead of Fardy.

Yeah I don't think Pocock and Hooper can play together at any time when Will Skelton is on the field. We simply can't afford to have three of our back five not really involved in the lineout.

I'd take a Kane Douglas/Rob Simmons second row with Hooper, Pocock and either Benny Mac or Fards in the backrow. Still gives us three jumpers, has a fair bit of workrate. Douglas won't need to call, since Simmons does that now anyway and the best of both worlds out of our two 7s

[jargan83]

Michael Hooper's judiciary saga is over with the Wallabies flanker cleared by SANZAR's appeals committee to face the All Blacks in Saturday's Rugby Championship decider in Sydney.

The decision on Sunday ends a drawn out and stressful time for Hooper, who is delighted he can now focus on the clash with New Zealand at Sydney's Olympic stadium which doubles as the first of two Bledisloe Cup Tests.

"Glad it's wrapped up and I can really look forward to this week and moving forward into the first Bledisloe," Hooper said.

"It's been a little bit tough but I have been preparing as if I've been right to play and I'll be trying to get into the team for this week."

After a painstaking process, stretching more than six hours over two sittings, Hooper was found guilty of striking Pumas five-eighth Nicolas Sanchez in an off-the-ball incident during Australia's 34-9 win over Argentina last weekend in Mendoza and was given a one-game ban.

The number seven was initially facing a two-game ban but due to his good character and unblemished disciplinary record, the Wallabies vice-captain had his penalty cut and was told he could serve the ban by missing Manly's Sydney club semi-final against Randwick on Saturday after being named on the Marlins bench.

A day after Hooper was handed the suspension, SANZAR announced it was not satisfied with the sanction imposed and would appeal the decision by judicial officer Nigel Hampton QC before the ARU cross-appealed on the grounds that the ban was too heavy.

Hampton dismissed Hooper's defence that he pushed Sanchez off with an open hand "similar to a fend by a ball carrier attempting to stop himself from being tackled".

But he found Hooper's striking offence to be "at the lower-end entry point which stipulates a two-week suspension".

Hooper's availability will come as a huge relief to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika as the Australians look to break a 13-year Bledisloe Cup drought.

The Test on Saturday is followed a week later by a return bout at Auckland's Eden Park.

AAP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-0...missed/6666738

[Ralto]

The soccer style diving by Argentina has no place in rugby as was seen multiple times across the game.

That looked like a bit of force but was open handed.

IMO Peyper didn't get control of the game and hence the situations arose. The number of breakdown offences by Argentina with no card a prime example.

So, it was a dive, but he did hit him, but it was only a slap, and anyway, it was the ref's fault.
No soccer dives,but boxings OK.

[brokendown gunfighter]

so,who were the Sanza officials that appealed their own decision?

[Sheikh]

so,who were the Sanza officials that appealed their own decision?

The report I read said it was Graeme Mew who felt Nigel Hampton's decision was too lenient.

Seeing as Mew is Canadian and Hampton a Kiwi, I can't see a reason for bias in there