Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Of all the positive signs for Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt in two local derbies last weekend – a ruthless Brumbies win and a determined Queensland comeback – the moment that may prove most consequential came from a losing side.
In the 49th minute, NSW prop Taniela Tupou ran on from the bench, shoved the Reds backward in a few scrums and then bulldozed over for a try. And what followed was telling: jubilant Waratahs players ran from all over the field to jump on Tupou, yahooing like he’d scored a match winner.
Angus Bell wrapped an arm around Tupou’s shoulder like a proud father.
In most circumstances, the emotion levels might have looked over the top, but not when considering the background of Tupou’s raw interview with this masthead, published a day earlier.
In extraordinarily candid admissions, the star Wallaby prop laid bare his struggle to find form this year, his desire to stay in Australia, his frustrations about not contributing for NSW, and a sad resignation that he may not get picked to play against the British and Irish Lions.
“Sometimes, I go out there, and I finish the game, and I’m like, ‘f— me, do I know how to play rugby any more, or what?’,” he said.
But the sight of Tupou rediscovering his confidence in a 29-minute effort against the Reds (albeit with a yellow card thrown in) was enough to energise his entire team, and to give Schmidt cause for optimism.
Schmidt met with Tupou on Tuesday when he spent time at the Waratahs training headquarters, where NSW and Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki also gave an insight into why Tahs players were so happy for Tupou – and why it spells good news for Australian rugby.
“When he’s on, he is one of the best tight head props in the world … and he’s huge for the group. He creates energy for the group,” Porecki said.
“He’s almost like a talisman for us. If he’s on, what he creates for us as a team is gigantic. I feel like he’s now finding a bit of rhythm.
“Scrummaging-wise, you know what he can bring as well. He’s a confidence player. For him, putting out a really good performance on the weekend – apart from his yellow card, which I’ve been chipping [him] over – is good confidence for him as a player. That’s what Australian rugby needs.”
Porecki, who returned from a calf injury last weekend, isn’t even sure Tupou was in a slump. He believes he suffers from extraordinarily high expectations.
“There’s heightened expectations on world-class players like Nela, which can be detrimental at times,” Porecki said.
“If you look at the first half of the year and what he was producing scrum-wise and dominance there, a lot of big teams around the world would literally pay their tight end just to get them scrum penalties, you know?
Taniela Tupou and Waratahs temmates celebrate the prop scoring a try.Credit: Getty Images
“But it goes back to the expectations people have on Taniela, and how he also wants to be playing peak, peak footy all the time.
“It’s big for him in his own admission to speak like that [in the Herald interview] and be open like that in a world that might see that negatively. But I also think it shows that he’s confident in himself, and that he knows he’ll find it. The weekend was a big step in the right direction for him.”
The flipside to the joy around Tupou’s try was the refusal of Kiwi referee James Doleman to reward the dominance of the NSW scrum just prior, and in several similar scrum contests over the last half-hour.
Doleman said he was unwilling to reward Tupou “going up and across”, and NSW were denied a similar penalty in the Reds quarter, as the siren sounded and needing a try to draw level. McKellar declined to comment post-game on the contentious calls of Doleman, saying whistleblowers are a “protected species”.
Schmidt said on Monday that Tupou was “pretty unlucky on a couple of those scrums where he stayed down and through pretty well and didn’t get reward.”
Porecki also sidestepped questions about their review of Doleman’s decisions.
“You’ve got to paint the pictures that the referee wants. They weren’t the pictures that he wanted. So we probably just have to be better to be going, ‘what do you need from us to get some pay here?’,” Porecki said.
“For Nela, it’s like the scene from The Incredible Hulk, or from The Avengers, when you just look at him and you go “Hulk smash”. I’m just looking at him on the field going, OK mate, you need to go.
“If he keeps his shape, and keeps his connection with whoever’s on the field, especially tight five, we all know he’s pretty hard to stop.”
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