Brumbies looking to shut down Tupou in Super Rugby's top of the table clash
Still stinging after being shifted to the wrong side of Australian rugby's newest rivalry, Allan Alaalatoa has singled out rival prop Taniela Tupou as the Brumbies prepare to host the Queensland Reds on Friday.
The Wallabies teammates split minutes last season with success but will go head-to-head for Super Rugby Pacific's only two remaining unbeaten sides in Canberra.
The Brumbies beat the Reds to claim domestic honours in 2020 but the Reds reversed that result in an after-the-siren win in front of a delirious Suncorp Stadium crowd last season.
That was one of three tense games between the sides in 2021 that have forged a genuine rivalry between the teams that feature players competing for Test caps.
"It's been built over the last couple of years ... we've got some of the best players going head to head so I think that's awesome," Brumbies captain Alaalatoa said.
"When you get the chance to think about it it still hurts a little bit (the Super Rugby AU final loss).
"We've got to nail our detail, channel that emotion and make sure we're 100 per cent clear on what we're going to do."
With Tate McDermott among a host of key men missing due to injury and Liam Wright back via the bench from his own shoulder dramas, Alaalatoa expects Tupou to step up for the Reds.
"He's their powerhouse; someone that when he wants to turn it on, can really put pressure on," he said.
"They'll probably look to Nella to drive them so we need to do everything we can to stop him and guys like Harry Wilson and Jordy Petaia, just to name a few."
Petaia has plenty to prove too after retaining his spot at fullback following last week's experimental debut in the No.15 went well.
He'll be tested by rival fullback and Wallabies front-runner Tom Banks, while the kicking game of halves Nic White and Noah Lolesio will also keep Petaia busy.
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I like Andy’s critical approach to all hot issues especially when it comes to the rugby big “bosses”. However, sorry Andy, I don’t support your “we shouldn’t be questioning the integrity of Karl Dickson or any other official”. May I ask why? They do have a lot of responsibility, but they are people like us with all their sins and weaknesses. We have to respect their decision during the games, but why they became untouchable afterwards and people cannot even criticize them and the ones, who does express their concerns, got punished for publicly analyzing their mistakes and asking questions. If they believe they did right, there shouldn’t be a problem for any of the refs to answer these “questions” publicly. I don’t really remember such cases. However, I do remember how Craig Joubert shown his running skills in 2015 or Pascal Gauzere shined in Cardiff in 2021. I do believe that Rassie, as anybody else, had a full right to share his vision of Nic Berry’s performance the same year. I do not support the hate in any form especially in public one, but creating the cast of untouchable refs and rugby bosses is not for me. As for Karl, he had all means to question his appointment for the game and since I don’t now whether he did it, blaming just RFU wouldn’t be quite correct at this moment. I love the game of rugby and almost every time I watch it I don’t support any team, I just wanna see the good game and fair referring. Sorry, Karl. last Saturday you got my Craig Joubert”s award of the round. It is up to Karl to prove that I am wrong, not to Andy or RFU’s corporate bla-bla-bla. Something like that…
Go to commentswell remember the blues had a guy called jed rowlands for a season. remember scott took his coaching team with him give him time
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