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Sam Bruce, Deputy Editor, espn.com.au
Eight years after the David Pocock-Michael Hooper duo took the Rugby World Cup by storm, young gun Fraser McReight is eyeing a similar partnership with fellow tyro Tom Hooper as the Wallabies prepare to finetune their preparations for the 2023 tournament in France.
With the shock of Michael Hooper’s omission from Eddie Jones’ Wallabies squad starting to subside, Australia completed their domestic preparations with a farewell event at Sydney’s Drummoyne Oval on Wednesday afternoon.
But the squad was then, on Thursday morning, rocked by the news that assistant coach Brad Davis had quit just hours before the team was due to fly out for France, a Wallabies spokesperson attributing his departure to “personal reasons” amid conflicting reports of a falling out with Jones.
While that is a far from ideal twist in an already troubled Wallabies build-up – the team is 0-4 since Jones’ return — McReight cut a positive figure on Wednesday afternoon as he spoke of his hopes for how his partnership with Tom Hooper could develop.
“Yeah, Tom’s a good footy player, isn’t he? He’s big, he’s very big, he gets through a lot of work, and he’s also young and he can build his game and grow his game as well, same as me,” McReight replied when asked if he and Tom Hooper could create a similarly successful duo to the Michael Hooper-Pocock partnership from 2015.
“I thought we played really well together in Dunedin and I think we fit each other’s games really well — we complement each other. So hopefully we get a few more cracks together and build on it.”
While Michael Hooper and David Pocock were of similarly smaller frames, their twin fetcher approach — dubbed “Pooper” — caused all kinds of headaches for opposition attacks in 2015, with both players capable of getting on the ball for a turnover or winning a penalty from referees.
But rugby soon changed, shifting back towards a power game where size became increasingly important – see the Springboks “Bomb squad” — and by the time the 2019 tournament rolled around that same partnership was nowhere near effective as it had been four years earlier.
But with Tom Hooper’s larger frame – he weighs in around 122kgs and stands 199cm tall – McReight believes the two youngsters can once again cause headaches on opposition ball.
“Obviously breakdown pressure and trying to get the ball back is really big. Again, it’s just sometimes weird how some games go and I feel like it’s something we’ve probably missed throughout the whole team,” McReight said.
“If you look at France, they’ve got people everywhere, even in the backline, who can get on the ball and maybe that’s something that we haven’t had in recent years. And I’m sure that’s just going to continue to build, and come the World Cup and come the future years we’re going to be great in that area.”
McReight’s World Cup hopes looked to be hanging by a thread after he was dropped from the Wallabies squad that was beaten 34-31 by Argentina in Sydney. But Tom Hooper’s switch to No. 7 and then No. 6, and Michael Hooper’s nagging calf injury, earned McReight another crack in Dunedin, and the former Junior Wallabies captain didn’t disappoint.
Having gone away and worked on his game after the Pumas defeat, McReight affected one brilliant turnover in Bledisloe II as the All Blacks ran straight into centerfield off a lineout late in the first half.
“Feedback was good, it was just they were happy with how I played; I think they wanted a bit more pressure around the ruck which I was not able to get,” McReight reflected on his axing after the loss to the Pumas.
“Sometimes games are like that right, as a fetching No. 7 like myself, I’m always hunting for the ball, but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Whether that’s if they [the opposition] get all the momentum or the tackle technique for you is wrong, people aren’t chopping and the ball is there, and they [Pumas] were quite good [at the breakdown].
“So I think with Eddie, all the messaging is quite clear, he’s honest with you and where he sees you and where you can get to, so for me it’s all been really positive. So he’s told me things to work on and I’m going to do that and I’ve been doing that, so I’m just super excited to keep progressing in France.”
Long anointed as Michael Hooper’s successor, whether he did make the World Cup squad or not, McReight said he had heard from the Wallabies great as reports of Quade Cooper’s fury at his own omission rumbled around media circles.
“Yeah he messaged me this morning and said ‘go well, mate’, and I’ve had a few messages back and forth with him over the past few weeks,” McReight revealed. “So we keep in touch and I’m sure that won’t be the last of it as well.”
The Wallabies play one final warm-up game, against tournament hosts France on Aug. 27 [CET], before they open their World Cup campaign against Georgia back at Stade de France on Sept. 9.