Hooper’s Olympic Sevens Bid Derailed by Injury
Renowned Wallabies openside flanker Michael Hooper’s bid to represent Australia at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris faced a setback as he was ruled out of the World Rugby Sevens Series’ final tournament in Madrid next week due to injury.
Hooper is currently dealing with osteitis pubis, an inflammation of his groin, and has been advised to rest in order to give himself the best chance of making Australia’s sevens squad for the Olympics, which will take place on July 24 and 25.
“The problem with that stuff is if you don’t get on top of it early, you end up suffering from it,” explained Australia sevens coach John Manenti in an interview with Nine’s Wide World of Sports. “So we’re just trying to manage him now. Long travel, both ways, wouldn’t be good for him. So we’ll just try to look after him a little bit and then get him through to some camps and things coming up, where he can rip into those in a few weeks.”
The 32-year-old made the switch to sevens late last year, after being omitted from the Wallabies’ 2023 Rugby World Cup squad by then-head coach Eddie Jones, who cited Hooper’s lack of suitability as a role model.
Hooper’s participation in the World Rugby Sevens Series has been limited this season due to calf and Achilles issues he has experienced.
“So not great timing for him but obviously he’s been chasing hard to catch the group and all that stuff,” said Manenti. “He’s had it (osteitis pubis) a bit in his XVs career so it’s not something that he’s unfamiliar with but it’s certainly something we just need to get on top of.”
In addition to Hooper’s absence, Manenti has made three other changes to the squad that finished fourth at the recent Singapore SVNS tournament. James McGregor, Teddy Wilson and Henry Palmer have been left out, with Tim Clements, Josh Turner, Dally Bird and Matt Gonzalez brought in as replacements. Playmaker Maurice Longbottom also remains sidelined due to injury.
The HSBC SVNS 2024 Grand Final in Madrid is scheduled to take place from May 31 to June 2.
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