{"id":247574,"date":"2022-10-29T20:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247574"},"modified":"2022-10-30T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T11:00:02","slug":"hooper-gets-perfect-birthday-present-on-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247574","title":{"rendered":"Hooper gets perfect birthday present on return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies great Michael Hooper made a feelgood return to the Test arena, playing a typically influential role in Australia's heart-stopping 16-15 win over Scotland.\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

The former captain missed all six Tests of the Rugby Championsh\ufeffip to deal with mental health issues before confirming his return for the five match spring tour.<\/a><\/p>\n

The openside flanker didn't miss a beat as he harassed Scotland at every opportunity, making 15 tackles throughout a tough and tense 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Red carded All Black lock's tour under threat<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Spent Kiwi staggers off after 'phenomenal' ton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Huge upset as icon's horse claims Victoria Derby\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

It was the perfect way to spend his 31st birthday – although it could have been very different had Scotland five-eighth Blair Kinghorn slotted the game-winning penalty.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I didn't enjoy them kicking for goal at the end but happy he missed it and what a kick by Whitey (Nic White) to put it out (and seal the win)," Hooper told Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

"No, I enjoyed it, it's been a long time coming, still a fair bit to go. I just enjoyed competing tonight, it was good."<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks spring tours on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Hooper said he is not "cured" of his mindset struggles \ufeffand was taking the tour "purely a day at a time."<\/p>\n

"That's what I've tried to do so far. I'm enjoying being back in the mix. I want to grow my game, I want to compete each week in these great stadiums and go from there."<\/p>\n

The Wallabies now set their sights on world No.2 France next Sunday and will need to tidy up their game in several key areas.\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/wallabies\/status\/1586329874759049216?s=20&t=5OAFgpXqWhZ5S7haXgDGAw<\/a><\/p>\n

"The Scottish were good over our ball tonight," Hooper noted.<\/p>\n

"We had some really good attacking passages but the Scottish turned us over quite well and denied some of our access into the 22. So that was a little bit frustrating there because I think we've got a lot more to show there in attack.<\/p>\n

"But great grit tonight, this team always has that but to get away with a W is awesome."<\/p>\n

\"Scotland<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies great Michael Hooper made a feelgood return to the Test arena, playing a typically influential role in Australia's heart-stopping 16-15 win over Scotland.\ufeff The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247576,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247574\/revisions\/247576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}