Taniela Tupou insists he is ready to start for the Wallabies after proving to himself he can compete with the world’s best props in a match-turning performance against South Africa.
The ‘Tongan Thor’ missed both Bledisloe Cup defeats last month due to a hamstring injury but entered the fray early in the second half of Saturday night’s 23-18 win at Suncorp Stadium and made an instant contribution.
He single-handedly stiffened a shaky Australian scrum, taming his Springboks opposite number Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira as he helped win a crucial penalty in the 69th minute that resulted in Matt Toomua booting the match-sealing points.
Tupou was also key in staving off a late South African comeback as Australia prevailed in what he described as a “life or death scrum” after the siren.
“Before that last scrum, (Michael Hooper) came up to me and said, ‘Nela, I really need this from you’,” he told reporters.
“I looked straight at him and said ‘I’ll give it to you’.
“I went in there with everything I had.”
Tupou was a viral hit as a teenager in Auckland when clips of his incredible ball-running ability in high school rugby set YouTube abuzz.
But a three-year crash-course in scrummaging at the Queensland Reds has made him a complete front-rower – as his newly-cauliflowered right ear can attest.
No longer is Tupou a tantalising prospect for the future. His time is now.
While coach Michael Cheika said he was in “no hurry, no panic” to throw Tupou into the Wallabies XV given the 22-year-old has only five caps to his name, promoting him for next weekend’s Rugby Championship Test against Argentina on the Gold Coast may prove an irresistible option.
“If Cheika said, ‘Nela, you’re starting next week’, I’ll be taking that with both hands and making sure I do my job,” Tupou said.
“I know I can challenge some of the best props in the world.
“It’s awesome to see the hard work I’ve been doing paying off.
“I’ll keep working hard and hopefully get my chance to start sometime soon.”
Tupou was nursing a sore neck after the Springboks match but the pain was dulled by the glory of victory.
“As soon as the game finished, I walked up to (someone), I can’t remember who it was, and I told them, mate, how good’s winning?” Tupou said.
“The last two weeks have been tough for us and to be able to win this game, we needed that.”
