Hong Kong Sevens: Habana backing fellow international legend Hooper to thrive among ‘phenomenal sevens athletes’
- Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper is poised to make his sevens debut in city this weekend
- Six-time winners Australia in pool with France, Fiji, and Canada as tournament prepares for Hong Kong Stadium farewell
Bryan Habana says former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper boasts all the raw attributes to successfully cross from Test rugby to the unforgiving sevens code.
Hooper, who was controversially omitted from Australia’s squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is poised to begin his sevens foray at this week’s Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. The 32-year-old’s wider objective is selection for his country’s Olympic Games campaign in July.
His switch mirrors the late-career transition of Habana, a World Cup winner with South Africa, who at 32 years of age turned his focus to sevens in an attempt to play at the 2016 Olympics.
Habana said he “failed abysmally” to crack the sevens code, although he was hampered by issues gaining regular release from his French club, Toulon. Hooper’s own sevens debut has been delayed by calf and Achilles issues.
But Habana, who features in an HSBC-produced documentary chronicling Hooper’s sevens introduction, reckons a player with 125 Test caps, an Australian-record 69 of them as captain, is well positioned for his shot at Paris.
“Hoops has one of the most incredible work rates I have seen from anyone over the past 15 or 20 years,” Habana, an HSBC Global Brand Ambassador, told the Post.