Teammates' indiscipline frustrates Hooper
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Three prominent Wallaby representatives have been dropped from the team following a late-night drinking session which breached team protocol.
The incident has caused much frustration on the part of Wallaby captain Michael Hooper, who faces the stiff challenge of leading his troops against the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup opener this weekend.
Reports indicate that , after a team dinner, Marika Koroibete, Isi Naisarani and Pone Fa’amausili were drinking in a hotel room well past curfew.
Speaking to the Syney Morning Herald, Hooper said:
“It has been disappointing. We’ve spoken a lot about what it’s going to take to beat this All Blacks team and that never aligned with the decisions that were made. It was dealt with earlier in the week, so it’s allowed us to move on. We’re in a good place arriving here in Auckland.
“You can judge a lot by people’s actions and their actions have been superb since that began. They’ve been training hard and doing their own thing at times to get back in the shape they need to play.
“We’ve had conversations in the group and we’ve moved forward with it. That’s all we can do.
“People will make mistakes and we understand that ... [we want to] play our game and best rugby.”