FLANKER MICHAEL HOOPER will remain Wallabies captain under new coach Dave Rennie, ending speculation he would be replaced as the team looks to rebound from recent disappointments.
Rennie said he had been “hugely impressed” with Hooper, 28, who has captained the Wallabies in 46 of his 99 Tests.
“He’s keen to lead and is highly respected by the Wallaby family — in the end, his appointment was a straightforward decision,” Rennie said in a statement.
The New Zealander took over in July with the Wallabies languishing at seventh in the rankings, a historic low, after being bundled out of last year’s World Cup in the quarter-finals.
He promised a new broom this month when he named 16 uncapped players in a 44-man squad for the upcoming Test season, but was coy at the time about confirming Hooper as skipper.
His decision to stick with the veteran means Hooper will still be wearing the captain’s armband for his 100th Test, when the Wallabies play New Zealand in Wellington on October 11.
Hooper relinquished the NSW Waratahs captaincy to Rob Simmons earlier this year to concentrate on his game, but said he wanted to stay on as Wallabies skipper, describing it as a “privilege”.
“It’s an absolute honour to be the Wallabies captain and I want to thank Dave, the Wallabies management team as well as Rugby Australia for their support and endorsement,” he said.
News of Hooper’s reappointment came as Australian national airline Qantas ended their long-running sponsorship of the Wallabies as part of a coronavirus-related cost-cutting drive, deepening the financial crisis engulfing Rugby Australia.
Qantas said it could not justify paying for sponsorships when the Covid-19 pandemic meant it was cutting 2,500 jobs and had posted an annual pre-tax loss of €1.65 billion (Au$2.7bn).
“While we’re dealing with this crisis and its aftermath, the cash cost of our sponsorships has to be zero,” the airline’s chief customer officer Stephanie Tully said in a statement.
Qantas said it would offer “in-kind” support such as flights to Cricket Australia and Football Federation Australia for the next 12 months, as well as supporting Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
But it cut ties completely with the national rugby team as part of the sponsorship shake-up, ending a 30-year association reportedly worth €3 million (Au$5.0m) annually to Rugby Australia.
The decision is a huge blow to RA, which lost over €6 million (Au$10m) last year and axed 47 workers — a third of its staff — in June due to the pandemic’s impact on its bottom line.
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