Lachie Hooper’s debut game for the ACT Brumbies, against the might of the British and Irish Lions, will be his first chance to line up professionally alongside big brother Tom.
But it could also be the pair’s last game together in Brumbies colours.
Lachie, 21, will start on the bench in Canberra on Wednesday night after being handed his debut by coach Stephen Larkham.
Larkham hailed the talents of the younger Hooper, who he watched and helped develop over the years through the ACT rugby system.
“He’s amazing when he goes on the field,” he said.
“We really wanted them to be here together, and we really wanted them to play together, and we just didn’t get the opportunity this year.
“But hopefully everything goes to plan and they get on the field and they really enjoy not only the moment, but the way that we play the game.”
Tom, 24, returns to the starting side after playing 12 minutes in the Wallabies’ ugly 21-18 victory over Fiji in Newcastle on Sunday, but several big-name Test players will be absent, including Rob Valetini and captain Allan Alaalatoa.
“We’ve been planning for this for a while, and yeah, second row was certainly a position that we were a little bit light-on,” Larkham said.
Also receiving his Brumbies debut against the Lions will be prop forward Cameron Orr, who will also start from the bench.
The 30-year-old was drafted from the Seattle Seawolves in the US Major League Rugby competition for the game, but has a wealth of Super Rugby experience with the Western Force and the now-defunct Melbourne Rebels.
Taming the Lions will be a tough ask for Larkham’s inexperienced side.
The tourists posted half-centuries against the Queensland Reds and the Force, and despite a strong performance from the NSW Waratahs still prevailed 21-10 in Sydney.
Looking at the scorelines, Larkham conceded it was hard to argue that the Lions had yet to face a proper challenge in Australia.
“Although I thought the Waratahs were pretty good on the weekend,” he said.
“I thought it was a very impressive game against the Reds, the British and Irish Lions put out there.
“We’ve learned a lot from that. We get the benefit of playing last so we get to see three of their games in Australia, they’ve had their Argentinian game as well, so we’ve sort of studied them quite closely.
“We don’t know who we’re playing against at this stage, we don’t know what their selection is. But we feel that we’ve had a pretty good run at our preparation compared to the other teams.
“You’d like to think that the Waratahs had that little bit of extra preparation watching those other games. They came into the game with some tactics that worked pretty well, and we’ve learned a little bit out of the Waratahs game as well.”
Wednesday’s game will also serve as a Brumbies farewell for Jack Debreczeni and Ben O’Donnell, who will join French side Aurillac on a two-year deal.
Source: espn.com