Wallabies keeping door open for grieving Tupou to play Boks in Perth
By Iain Payten
The Wallabies are keeping the door open for grieving prop Taniela Tupou to rejoin the team for the second Test against the Springboks in Perth, desperate for his power after being monstered by the world champions in a 26-point drubbing in Brisbane.
Australia were on Sunday counting the physical cost of a torrid clash with the Boks at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium, with wing Filipo Daugunu and locks Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams all ruled out for the second game at Optus Stadium on Saturday.
Daugunu suffered a broken leg while Frost and Williams both picked up concussions, which requires them to be stood down for a mandatory 12 days. The loss of Frost, who turned in a hugely physical effort in Brisbane, will be particularly felt, given the 206cm lock is the only Wallaby who eyeballs the Boks’ tall timber at lineout time
Lock Josh Canham, who impressed for the Rebels this year, has been called up and flew to Perth on Sunday. Force lock Sam Carter - who played his last Test in 2017 - has also been called in to the Wallabies squad for training.
Marika Koroibete’s likely return to the side covers the loss of Daugunu without much fuss, and coach Joe Schmidt is also keeping an open mind about adding the much-needed power of Tupou, too.
Tupou’s father passed away last week and though he remained with the squad in Brisbane for the week, and even warmed up with the team on Saturday, he was not in the right headspace to play and was not considered for selection.
Allan Alaalatoa of the Wallabies speaks with Taniela Tupou after the game in Brisbane.Credit: Getty Images
Tupou flew back to Tonga on Sunday to attend his father’s funeral but despite the likelihood he’ll miss several days of training – which usually disqualifies players in Schmidt’s mind – before flying back to Perth, the coach is not ruling him out of the second Test.
The Wallabies sorely missed Tupou’s power at scrum-time and were pushed off the ball and penalised from the second minute of the game. The benefits of a Tupou return could be compounded by a return of first-choice loosehead prop Angus Bell, as well, following a week back in the Wallabies’ squad.
Nick Frost wins a lineout.Credit: Getty Images
Bell returned from a long-term foot injury that caused him to miss the second half of the Super Rugby season, and require surgery. It was the second consecutive year Bell had gone under the knife on the same foot, after missing much of 2023 as well with a related toe ligament problem.
Tom Robertson, the 24-cap prop who missed the 2023 Rugby World Cup after an ACL rupture, has also been called into the squad. He has recently returned from a year studying at Oxford.
After rolling out a near-full strength team in Brisbane, Schmidt said after the match he anticipated the Springboks would make changes to their second Test side, with a two-Test series against the All Blacks to follow for the world No.1.
After trailing 21-0 at halftime, the Wallabies will use a more competitive second half – in which the Boks edged them 12-7 – as a foothold to rebuild confidence and belief for the second Test. But Schmidt conceded the context of the Springboks being down to 13 men for most of the last 15 minutes of the Test.
The Wallabies scored one try but having already conceded 33 unanswered points, they were already out of the contest – largely due to their own chronic discipline problems.
Rookie flanker Luke Reimer wasn’t lacking for optimism after his debut on Saturday, however, saying he believed the Springboks are beatable.
“There’s moments in that game where you look at it and go, it’s possible to beat them. At the end of the day, it’s whoever turns up,” Reimer said.
“You saw Ireland do it a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the day, it’s who turns up. There’s definitely opportunity around some of their weaknesses, you’d say, but we’ve just got to have a good look at how we can attack that and implement that into this week moving forward.”
Wallabies captain Allan Alaalatoa said the heavy defeat would be a good learning experience for many of the side’s inexperienced players.
“It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow, but a lot of our boys will learn from that,” he said. “As our coach said, we’ve got a lot of our boys with a handful of caps who are learning what the Test arena is like, and there’s no better way to learn than versing the South Africans. So, again, we’ve got to learn and then make sure that we’re better for Perth.”
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