Young Wallabies back-rower Tom Hooper grew up on a farm in Bathurst and says he owes his rugby success to the work ethic instilled in him by his family.
Ahead of the Wallabies’ opening Rugby Championship match against South Africa in July, Michael Hooper was asked how special it was to be named in the same Australian back row as his son, Tom, for the upcoming Test in Pretoria.
“I loved growing up with my mates playing footy,” Hooper told this masthead. “There were sausage sizzles on a Friday night. I was pumping four or five and my mates were only eating one. That’s probably why I’m a big block of meat now. Great way to grow up.”A week out from Australia’s first match of the tournament in France, Eddie Jones has wasted no time continuing his favourite pastime of dishing out entertaining nicknames to players.
Hooper is the larrikin of this rejuvenated Wallabies team in the mould of Nick Cummins a decade ago. There are Hooper-isms aplenty and yarns spun from his previous life on the farm. “A lot of my friends call dad a cranky old bastard, but he’s a funny man. A bit like Eddie’s coaching style – firm when he has to be, but a funny bastard at other times.“Dad is a tough bloke. He walks around with bung knees and struggles getting up and down ladders. He’s a plumber and one of the hardest working men I’ve ever met. He’s taught me a lot about how to be a man. Every time I think me or my brother are going through a hard time, we think how hard dad is working on the shovel back home.
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