Hooper likens rising Wallaby Isaac Henry to 1999 World Cup winner Nathan Grey

Michael Hooper has compared emerging Wallabies centre Isaac Henry to 1999 Rugby World Cup winner Nathan Grey after Henry delivered one of Australia’s more encouraging individual performances in a 43-21 Bledisloe Cup defeat to the All Blacks at Accor Stadium in Sydney.

Henry, 27, started at inside centre after Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau were both ruled unavailable, lining up opposite a rotation of Timoci Tavatavanawai, Quinn Tupaea and Rieko Ioane across 80 minutes. He finished the match with 14 carries — equal second-most among all Wallabies — and completed nine tackles from 12 attempts.

“For a guy that’s played a couple of different positions now in the centres, I think he’s looking really sharp,” Hooper said. “He’s strong. He carried very well on the weekend. He’s got a nice ball out the back, runs a good line as we saw in a couple of Test matches beforehand. I’m liking how he’s developing. Maybe a bit Nathan Grey-ish, potentially. Looks hard and gets stuck in. It was a good performance.”

Henry’s path to Test rugby has not been straightforward. A series of long-term injuries delayed his rise before a career-best Super Rugby Pacific campaign this year earned him his first international call-up under new head coach Les Kiss, debuting against Japan.

Hooper also singled out fly-half Declan Meredith, who made just his third Test start on Saturday after Ben Donaldson was ruled out with an upper leg injury. Meredith, who debuted against France during the July Nations Championship Tests and also featured against Italy and Japan, made an immediate impression by attempting a chip-and-chase inside the opening five minutes.

“Four minutes into the game, I think the time was, he puts that little chip over the top. With a different bounce or a set of different chases, he creates,” Hooper said. “I like that confidence that he took into that game. He didn’t wait for the game to come, he took on the game earlier and I appreciate that.”

Meredith matched Henry’s 14 carries and came close to scoring a try in the second half, providing a measure of encouragement for Kiss despite the heavy defeat. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who had played the previous two Tests on the wing, returned to outside centre for the Sydney fixture, completing a reshuffled midfield that will need to improve significantly if Australia is to level the Bledisloe Cup series.