Winning the Rugby World Cup might be the only thing that trumps defeating New Zealand on their own turf and former Bathurst student Tom Hooper is hoping to experience the latter with the Australian Schoolboys side on Friday.
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Hooper, who graduated from St Stanislaus' College at the end of 2018, has played at lock in Australia's first two matches on their three-game tour of New Zealand.
Australia defeated Fiji 39-7 on Thursday, September 26, before claiming a massive scalp against the New Zealand Barbarians with a 30-17 win in Hamilton on Monday.
Hooper, a member of the NSW 2's that finished as runners-up at the Australian Schoolboys Rugby Championship in 2018, said the win over the Barbarians will give his side a massive boost heading into Friday's game against the New Zealand Schoolboys.
"Coming into the New Zealand Barbarians game, we knew it was going to be a hard match. Everyone stepped up and we were all pretty pleased to get the win because we haven't beat them in 10-odd years," he said.
"Everyone is in really high spirits going into the game on Friday because of how momentous it was to beat the New Zealand Barbarians."
Hooper, who is linked with the ACT Brumbies academy, said the match against the New Zealand Schoolboys side will have more weighing on it than the Barbarians game.
"It's going to be huge," he said.
"We stuck around to watch the New Zealand Schoolboys play straight after us. They have a big pack but I think if we turn up on the day, our skill level can definitely trump them. We'll just have to shut down their big boys."
He said he's been working to cement a starting position at lock and he's started the previous two games against Fiji and the Barbarians.
"I've been trying to get that run on jersey and I started the first two games but I had a bit of an ankle injury in the back-end of that second game," he said.
"So I'm trying to get that sorted off-field and if that's all good, it should be all good come Friday."
Glen Vaihu scored a hat-trick for Australia in the team's first match on tour against Fiji, while Waratahs Academy junior Joe Suaalii notched a double, with Will Roach and Josh Flook crossing for one each.
But it was the game against the Barbarians that saw the green and golds produce a stand-out performance.
Flanker Alex Masibaka, hooker Hamish Moore, halfback Kalani Thomas and winger Tolatau Koula crossed the line for Australia against the Barbarians, with flyhalf Anthony Alofipo finishing with a tally of 10 points from two penalties and two conversions to ensure victory for his side.
Australia pushed out to a 25-5 lead by the hour mark but the Barbarians weren't going to give up without a fight and pulled it back to 25-17 on the back of some outstanding play, including a great individual try from winger Michael Manson.
But it was Hooper and his Australian teammates that had the last say, with Koula racing over to score his second try in the corner after Masibaka forced a turnover to cap an outstanding match from the flanker.
Australia will play the New Zealand Schoolboys at St Paul's Collegiate, Hamilton, at 3.05pm (New Zealand local time) on Friday.