Hooper took the early points in the close selection battle, winning the starting role for Saturday night's opening Rugby Championship encounter against South Africa at Suncorp Stadium.

Who would wear the No.7 jersey was one of the most contentious positional battles in the first Test match of a World Cup year.

Hooper had the inside running as the incumbent, making the spot his own while Pocock spent the past two seasons recovering from back-to-back knee reconstructions.

But Pocock showed in an outstanding bounce-back season with the Brumbies that he's far from a spent force at international level.

It's a wonderful selection headache for Wallabies coach Michael Cheika to have, but it would be nicer if there was room for both.

Larkham believes there is, pointing to how Smith and Waugh were able to co-exist in the Wallabies as proof it can be achieved.

"They're both picked in the 23 this week and we're not going to fall into the trap of having to take someone off to get someone on the field," Larkham said. "There's a good chance that they will play together and that will be exciting to see.

"We went through that era of Australian rugby with Phil Waugh and George Smith. "It was successful there for periods.

"There are obviously weaknesses to two back-rowers on the field like that, but we had a fair bit of success with in the past and I think these two guys can make it work."

Putting his Brumbies' hat back on, Larkham described Pocock's work at the breakdown as "something quite unique to world rugby".

"His attacking game is outstanding and then defensively he reads the game very well, but I think the point of difference for David is his breakdown work," Larkham said.

"We saw it this year, his first opportunity to really play for the Brumbies was this year to string a number of games together.

"He's had a number of injuries over the last couple of years, but this year was a fantastic year for him.

"We had, the Brumbies had, the best defensive record in the competition and in no small part that was due to David being in the team.

"It was an interesting battle through Super Rugby (between Pocock and Hooper)."

Larkham was also asked whether he had passed on the secrets of the Brumbies' rolling maul to the Wallabies.

Pocock used the rolling maul as a try-scoring weapon.

"We've had a pre-season in one week, so to expect us to have a rolling maul in one week is unrealistic," Larkham said.

"I'm certainly excited to be in this position to be coaching with the Wallabies and there will certainly be some things we bring from the Brumbies.

"Whether we can perfect the rolling maul in one week, we'll wait and see."