'As a prop, that's a dream': Daunting Wallaby pack awaits Scotland
The addition of European-based stars Will Skelton and Rory Arnold has bolstered the Wallaby pack ahead of this week's test match against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Taniela Tupou is excited about the prospect of linking up with the pair, saying that it is a 'dream' scenario to have the power of Will Skelton behind him at scrum time in the second row.
"We were just talking about it yesterday. Because I’ve never really played with Will, just imagine having him behind me or Allan or any of the tightheads," Tupou told the media.
"As a prop, that’s a dream. You don’t have to do much, you just be in good shape and Will will do the rest, so looking forward to it."
The Queensland Reds' tighthead prop has emerged over the last 12 months as one of the most devastating front rowers in the game, and at 25-years-old has matured a lot with his game since he last played at Murrayfield as a debutant in 2017.
Tupou came off the bench in the midst of a catastrophic performance by the Wallabies, as Scotland piled on the points to rout Australia by a score of 53-24.
"It’s funny because, back in 2017, I came yesterday, got my key, went into the room, they put me in the same room on the same level as I was a few years ago, and we’re playing on Sunday, When I made my debut, I remember my debut was on Sunday too, so it’s just funny how everything can work," he said.
"It’s good to be back here and looking forward to hopefully playing this week."
Tupou admitted that he hasn't watched the tape of that outing, but is keen on reversing the result on Sunday.
“I haven’t watched the game since I played, but not the best game, so hopefully we change that around this weekend.”
With 35 tests under his belt now, Tupou returns to Murrayfield with a different mindset this time with experience having become a central figure within Dave Rennie's squad either as a starter or as a damaging impact player late in games.
As a result, Tupou says he is enjoying this tour as an older member of the touring squad who is able to just be himself around his teammates.
"To be honest, I think I’ve enjoyed this one a lot better," Tupou explained.
"I’m a lot older and I’m not the 18-year-old kid who’s just joined the team. I can be myself with the boys and I can offer something, too, not just being around here not knowing if you’re going to play or not and it’s just a lot different coming this time, but, again, looking forward to it, man.”
Although Will Skelton hasn't yet played with Taniela Tupou, the pair were together in the squad on Skelton's last European tour on 2016 when the younger prop was an apprentice.
He said easing back into the squad with Tupou and his other new teammates has been rather easy and was positive about the Wallabies environment.
"I met Nela in 2016 on my last Spring tour. There’s a few guys I hadn’t met, but they’re very welcoming. You can see the camaraderie in the group, everyone cares about each other.
"There was a bit of banter on the first day, too, which was nice. The Aussie accent, I don’t know if I’ve missed that - Nela’s Aussie accent.”
Skelton said the newcomers are getting up to speed quickly on the style of play that they will play against Scotland, with a 'simple' shape that they plan on running. With the power now at Rennie's disposal, you would expect to see a lot of big men carrying the ball.
“We went through a bit of detail last night. The shape’s quite simple. It’s something that, as a rugby player, you’ve got to get used to quickly," he said.
"We’ll see what Rens is thinking, but we’ll definitely be putting our hand up, all of the boys who have come in, because we’re not here to just sit back and train for the three weeks.
"We want to try and be involved and put our hand up for selection. We’ll be trying to get our head around it for Sunday with a seven-day turnaround.”
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I think you've confused loss ratio with win ratio (I already gave you those numbers).
Not according to you're theory of winning rugby it doesn't "reflect performance", but maybe you have a further opinion on that two year period of success I mentioned? This decade they have had two years of winning football (SR AU) and the other two years with just the sole team winning (SRP).
I think you're looking for something in my post that isn't there, I'm just providing informational and letting a normal debate flow from it(sadly there forums aren't setup to capitlize on this time of community evolvement). What you need to focus on providing reason for is the lack of SR success in 00's, while obtain consistent/good national success. Does it not necessarily work both ways? The national team can obviously do well despite the clubs not, but can you say the national team will do well if it has winning club sides? Ie they can focus on that lower level creating a winning culture and let the top take care of itself? As I have said above, the one striking reason the Wallabies still had good results in the 00's (same win rate as when they had much better SR results around 2011), is despite only having one team with a winning season a lot of the time they were some of their best winning seasons in SR history.
Also as per you refer to recent consolidation this year and possible improvement and/or change of how the data needs to be interrupted, that pretty much applies to everything so far in the 20's, i'm not sure it's worth trying there either. The 10's, where the 'winning formula' theory works, and 00's, where it doesn't, are the more consistent era's (provide more reliable data) imo.
Go to commentsThe players have to play to the " gameplay " they trained for , instructed by the coaches .
England looked lost when Ireland upped the ante.
In contrast all the Irish players looked far better coached and attacked in unity .
Also
To criticise a 1.75 and 13 stone ball player for not being able to tackle expertly is like criticising Maro Itoje for not having a decent sidestep . Stupid.
Anyone knows a retreating pack makes the life of the 9 and 10 very difficult and this where the game turned .
That and silly penalties , dropped balls etc etc .
Borthwick will be here for a while But the team is crying out for better direction from the coaches .
Is the RFU listening .