Michael Hooper arrived just in time to see the sticker-licker pin the parking ticket under his wiper. It was the captain’s run on the eve of the Test against Argentina but Australia’s co-captain hadn’t run at all. Days before, in the Wallabies’ 43-12 walloping by South Africa in Pretoria, the 125-Test legend had tweaked a calf. It meant on the final lap of his storied career, Hooper would miss a home game farewell. With a rueful smile at the ticket, he copped it sweet – again. When your luck is out, your luck is out.
What is sure to hurt Hooper more is the 34-31 loss to Los Pumas he watched from the sidelines on Saturday night. It is Australia’s second straight defeat under new coach Eddie Jones, the first time they’ve been beaten back-to-back by Argentina and their fifth successive defeat in the Rugby Championship, where they sit dead last in 2023. It drops the Wallabies to eighth in the world rankings 54 days out from the World Cup and keeps the much-ballyhooed Jones’s jumpstart of Australian rugby on blocks.
