Springbok wing Ethan Hooker says he enjoyed Saturday’s aerial battle against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.
Hooker was named Man of the Match after a gruelling 80-minute shift, much of which was spent locked in an aerial battle under a swirling wind, chasing and contesting high balls against a New Zealand backline he rates among the best in the world.
“I enjoy the aerial contest,” he said. “Having the wind factor, and them being so good in the air, it really tests yourself and you have to think a lot more than in other games.
“It’s a big contest and I pride myself in my contest. I love going up against these guys because of how good they are in the air.”
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Asked what turned the contest in the second half, Hooker pointed squarely at the set-piece.
“A lot of it came from scrum dominance,” he said. “We really got the ball rolling there, and I think we got our contestable kicking game right, so we started getting our ball back quite a bit.
“We focused a lot more on ourselves rather than on them, got our structures in place, and built momentum from there.
“Obviously the crowd helped huge as well. As soon as you start getting momentum, the crowd joins in and it just lifts you.”
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While Hooker’s performance earned him the Man of the Match award, he admitted it barely registered after the physical demands of the Test.
“It was the last thing on my mind. I was so exhausted after 80 minutes, and I’m so happy that we won,” he said. “Someone told me that I’d won [the award], and I was like, oh look, there’s a Man of the Match. It completely went past my mind.”
The 23-year-old was also quick to share the credit with his teammates.
“There’s 23 of us and we’re all putting it on game day. We all just give it our all. I’m not really focusing on the opposition, I’m playing for myself, my family and for South Africa. If I walk away with Man of the Match, it’s just the cherry on top.”
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With the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series now moving to Baltimore, Hooker knows the Boks will have to adjust to a very different environment without the backing of a massive South African crowd.
“It’s going to be a neutral venue, so it’s going to be different, we won’t have 90,000 people screaming for us,” he said. “We’ve got to balance that out, but it’s a challenge and we’ll get ready for it.”
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Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
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Springbok wing Ethan Hooker says he enjoyed Saturday’s aerial battle against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium.
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