Hooper farewell party crashed by strugglers

Michael Hooper's Sydney farewell party was crashed by Moana Pasifika as the NSW Waratahs slumped to an embarrassing 33-24 loss on Saturday night.

Hooper, who captained the Waratahs in place of Jake Gordon, was playing his final home match for the club.

The talismanic flanker maintained his usual high standards - and scored a late consolation try - but the team's performance was flat as Moana claimed their only win of the Super Rugby Pacific season.

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The result didn't affect NSW's playoff plans, with the club locked into sixth place and a quarter-final date with the Blues in Auckland regardless of the outcome.

The Waratahs will start rank outsiders and coach Darren Coleman will also be sweating on the fitness of Wallabies Gordon, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Izaia Perese and Langi Gleeson who all picked up injuries at Allianz Stadium.

Winger Timoci Tavatavanawai and flanker Miracle Fai'ilagi both scored doubles for Moana, while captain Christian Leali'ifano raced away for a memorable try.

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"Congrats to Moana," the humble Hooper told Stan Sport's Drew Mitchell.

"They shut us down really well, they put pressure on us from the get-go. For them to come out, in a tough season, to get the win, congrats to them. They played with a lot of heart.

"Yeah, disappointing for us rolling into a quarter-final next week...

"We weren't accurate, we missed a lot of areas in the game, but that's the way it goes."

The Blues thumped the Waratahs 55-21 at Eden Park in the regular season and warmed up for the finals with a 16-9 win over the Highlanders on Friday.

The Waratahs haven't beaten the Blues away since 2009 and will also have one less day to prepare for the daunting challenge.

Blues coach Leon MacDonald is expecting star playmaker Beauden Barrett to play after missing two games with a nasty gash on his foot.

"Tonight was far from our best," Hooper said.

"We've had some good patches throughout the year, so we're going to need that going into finals time. There's a need to play your best footy there. We were off it tonight.

"Yeah, it sucks. But you know, lots to play for next week. "

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