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Former Australia captain Michael Hooper said it was “pretty daunting” to make his international sevens debut in his country’s 12-0 win against Fiji.
The 32-year-old came on as a substitute for Nathan Lawson with less than three of the 14 minutes left to play in the Hong Kong Sevens game on Friday.
Hooper is targeting a place in Australia’s sevens squad for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I came on and did what I had to do,” said Hooper.
“I just had to come on in and finish it off for us.
“I’ve got a wealth of games under my belt, so I’m trying to lean into that.
“The fact is, I’m completely new at this so finding out where I can impact the game, coming up against Fiji round one is pretty daunting. So I’ll just take it step by step from here.”
Hooper has played 125 times for Australia XVs but was left out of the 2023 World Cup squad before attempting to secure a sevens spot for Paris.
“He did well,” said Australia head coach John Manenti.
“He came on and did what he does pretty well, pilfer, so that was pretty significant.
“He’s been working really hard to get here. We said from the start, nothing was going to be given, he had to earn everything.
“You could see the boys that were on before him playing pretty good footy so he’s going to have to keep fighting and keep proving himself.”
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