(Reuters) – Australia captain Michael Hooper is hoping he can lead the Wallabies into their final tour match against Wales next week despite leaving the field with a foot injury during his side’s loss against England on Saturday.
Hooper was replaced by Pete Samu 14 minutes into the second half of the 32-15 defeat to Eddie Jones’ side and faces a race against time to be ready for the clash against the Welsh in Cardiff.
“I’ve done something to my foot, we’ll take a look at how it looks,” Hooper said after the game at Twickenham.
“It feels alright but the medical staff have buoyed me a bit with how it is, which is good.
“It was part of the tackle. Just a rugby injury.”
“I’ll give it every chance I can,” he added.
Australia’s loss against the English was the second defeat in a row for Dave Rennie’s side following last week’s reversal at the hands of Scotland.
The back-to-back defeats come after the Wallabies notched up a run of five straight wins before the tour, including two victories over world champions South Africa.
“It’s frustrating that we’re not able to play the game we want to play, certainly not able to unlock the England defence there,” said Hooper.
“We felt starved of ball. They did well there tonight to keep us in our end of the field.
“We’re not accurate, we’re not building momentum and when we do do something well it falls back on us sometimes so we’ve got to work on what that looks like.”
Props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou missed the game due to concussion but Rennie believes the pair will be available for the final match of the tour.
“We’re pretty confident we’ll get both those boys back next week,” he said.
“It’s hugely important,” Rennie said of the Wales game. “I think the support we have back at home and the support we have here deserve better. (We) definitely want to finish on a high.”
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
