Australia confirm Michael Hooper as new captain

Australia have confirmed Michael Hooper as their new captain after Stephen Moore has announced his decision to step down from the role with immediate effect.

Moore, who has featured 120 times for Wallabies confirmed that he will retire from international rugby at the end of this year and wants to give the new captain, time in adapting to the responsibility.

Waratahs flanker Hooper already has the experience of leading Australia when Moore was sidelined with an injury in 2014. Following Moore's return from injury, Hooper was assigned the role of vice-captain.

Australia head coach Michael Cheika is confident that Hooper will inspire the team to success.

"Michael always shows on the field how much he loves the gold jersey, and that's why he is totally respected among the rugby players in Australia.

"His role as the leader of this team will also be about making the standards of the Australian rugby team the highest they can possibly be."

Australia's next international assignment will be the Rugby Championship 2017 tournament where they face All Blacks in the opening game on 19th August in Sydney.