Michael Hooper will miss this month’s Bledisloe Cup Tests against the All Blacks despite Wallabies manager Dave Rennie saying his absent captain is “improving”.
Hooper has not featured in the Rugby Championship and returned from Argentina last month to focus on his mental health.
In his absence, James Slipper will continue to captain the Wallabies in Saturday’s blockbuster clash with the world champion Springboks at the new Allianz Stadium.
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“I had a lot of contact with Hoops,” Rennie told reporters.
“I’m not going to comment on where he is and what he looks like. We’re not looking to include him in the rest of Rugby League and then we’ll make decisions beyond that.
“I’m certainly not looking to rush him, but he’s definitely improving.”
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The Wallabies sit second in the Rugby League after three rounds while South Africa are last after losing their last two Tests.
Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber responded by making nine changes to his starting line-up and handing 19-year-old winger Canan Moodie a first test cap.
Moodie will line up against Adelaide’s man of the match, Marika Koroibete.
Marika Koroibete makes a colossal tackle to try to save
“Our job is to close space, he’s blistering, he’s got good pace,” Rennie said.
“So if we give him the ball, he has to be contestable to eliminate those opportunities. And we have to do a good job up front to get into the right parts of the park to, again, get him out of the game.
“They have so many threats across the park, we are aware of all of that and the main thing is to do our job.
“Our free kick, we have a lot more in us there, if we can rectify that it will give us a chance to play more territory because we spent a lot of the game in our own half last week.
“We know we’re going to have to be better because we gave away a lot of penalties last week and the Springboks couldn’t hurt us.
“They are too good a team for us to give them so many opportunities again.”
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WALLABIES (15-1): Reece Hodge, Tom Wright, Len Ikitau, Hunter Paisami, Marika Koroibete, Noah Lolesio, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Jed Holloway, Matt Philip, Rory Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, Folau Fainga’a, James Slipper (c)
Reservations: David Porecki, Scott Sio, Taniela Tupou, Darcy Swain, Rob Leota, Pete Samu, Jake Gordon, Andrew Kellaway
SPRINGBOKS (15-1): Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Damian Willemse, Jaden Hendrikse, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (c), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff
Reservations: Deon Fourie, Ox Nche, Trevor Nyakane, Kwagga Smith, Duane Vermeulen, Cobus Reinach, Frans Steyn, Warrick Gelant
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