Wallabies rookie Tom Hooper is confident a minor injury won't derail his quest for a World Cup debut.
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The lock didn't train with the team on Thursday and later admitted he was managing a niggle just a week out from Australia's opening clash with Georgia in Paris.
Hooper has overcome a shoulder reconstruction and serious foot injury to earn selection in the Wallabies squad for the World Cup and it would be a cruel blow if he was to miss the first game of the World Cup.
The Brumbies forward isn't the only player managing an injury with ACT teammate James Slipper set to miss the match against Georgia with a foot tendon complaint.
![Wallabies forward Tom Hooper is all smiles despite battling a minor niggle. Picture Getty Images Wallabies forward Tom Hooper is all smiles despite battling a minor niggle. Picture Getty Images](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GzY3iczng7SLWqVgHSV78t/9777c676-6e0f-4b7d-a8f2-a6c92976050c.jpg/r0_0_4558_2573_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Hooper, however, is confident his return to the training paddock is imminent and he will be fit to achieve a lifelong dream next weekend.
"It's just a little bit of a niggle," Hooper said. "I'm alright, I'll be back on deck tomorrow. It's just a bit going on with load management, so just making sure I'm back tomorrow."
A Bathurst product who moved to Canberra to chase his dream, the 22-year-old received a taste of rugby's importance in France at the Wallabies open training session in Saint-Étienne.
Hundreds turned up in an early indication of the World Cup fever that is set to sweep the country throughout the next two months.
The session came on the back of last week's loss to France in Paris. The Wallabies will return to the city for the Georgia clash, with another big crowd expected.
"What better way to prepare yourself than to throw yourselves in the deep end and see if you can swim," Hooper said.
"We got chucked in there with 80,000 people. Apparently [Issak Fines-Leleiwasa] got out there and he was like 'they're pretty quiet' and then he heard the French team run out and he went 'oh, there it is'. The roar came up and it was a great atmosphere.
"It prepares us well. We're playing at that stadium in 10 days time. We're really looking forward to that and the games we've got going forward there."
Hooper's quest for a World Cup debut comes as Len Ikitau took the next step in his comeback from a scapula fracture that ruled him out of the tournament, commencing light contact work.
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