A cavoodle, a scooter and the World Cup dream of Brumbies bolters Rhys Van Nek and Tom Hooper

The 114 kilogram ACT Brumbies prop was more concerned with vet bills than World Cup auditions after his seven-month-old mini cavoodle Luca broke its leg.

"I was at home looking after it just coming out of surgery," Van Nek said.

"I was just sitting on the couch and got the call [from Wallabies manager Chris Webb]. I looked at my partner straight away, she just heard the 'Wallabies' part.

"The next 10 seconds of what Webby said, I just did not even listen. It was so good, I was stoked."

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The 23-year-old is a few rungs down on the Wallabies' depth chart, but now finds himself an outside chance to force his way into an Australian squad on the road to France.

The next step comes at Canberra Stadium, where the Brumbies host the Otago Highlanders on Sunday afternoon.

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham is set to recall Connal McInerney on the bench after overcoming concussion concerns, while Hudson Creighton is in line to come off the pine in his first game of the season with Ollie Sapsford promoted to the starting side.

Van Nek will hold his place after emerging as one of the club's surprise packets this season, rising from the development squad into a match day 23 regular.

The Brumbies are a young prop's dream. You have Wallabies stars Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper to learn from, as well as "world-class" coaches in former Test prop Dan Palmer and Laurie Fisher.

"At the start of the year, I wasn't thinking I'd get to here. I'm taking everything on, listening to everybody, just being a sponge," Van Nek said.

"All those accolades, all those things don't really matter. That's going to take care of itself. I know that's where I want to be, and that stems from pushing myself and pushing my teammates here.

"That's what I've found this year, everyone is pushing each other to get better. It's just building consistent games off that and consistently training at a high level. Those things come."

His Brumbies teammate Tom Hooper knows that as good as anyone.

Hooper emerged as a potential Wallabies bolter following a breakout Super Rugby season last year, only to spend more than 300 days on ice after undergoing shoulder surgery and then breaking his foot.

But he has managed just one Super Rugby game this season to make a Wallabies call-up an unlikely prospect right now.

Hooper initially feared he would miss the entire Super Rugby season when a surgeon sat him down and, "being a nerd", outlined the 22-year-old's path back to football.

But Hooper made his return after 11 weeks following a gruelling rehabilitation process alongside Harry Vella. Pummeling him, Hooper laughs, is like "pummeling the Michelin man".

Now Hooper is fit and pushing for a place in the starting XV, where he is equally capable at lock and in the back-row - even though he jokes he would pick himself at flyhalf.

"I ran into Eddie Jones earlier in the year and I was scooting around on my scooter. He wasn't earmarking me for anything, he didn't even know my name," Hooper said.

"I introduced myself and he said he was impressed with last year, and it's just going to show a lot of character depending how I come back.

"I'm definitely not putting my names in any squads, I know it's a really big task with only five games.

"Realistically, my goal for this year is to play for the Brumbies, play really well for the Brumbies, and if we can get the cherry on top of a Super Rugby championship at the end of the year, I'll be over the moon."

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