Why rugby needs to worry about Suaalii
By Paul Cully
1. Is Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii running out of time?
The continued absence of the Waratahs star is beginning to turn into a battle against the clock. As reported by the Herald’s Iain Payten on Sunday, Suaalii has yet to return to full training as he battles what appears to be a niggling toe injury. That means he is unlikely to play against the Brumbies on Saturday, at the least.
When Israel Folau made the switch to rugby, he played 14 games for the Waratahs in the 2013 Super Rugby season before facing the British and Irish Lions, and he needed every one of those. Suaalii could end up playing fewer than 10, and there is still debate about what his best position is. He was already on something of a crash course, but the ongoing nature of this injury is a concern – regardless of the obvious natural talent.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s toe injury is a worry for the Waratahs and Wallabies.Credit: Getty Images
2. Dan Herbert is right about Super Rugby – I don’t even miss SA any more
Rugby Australia chairman Dan Herbert believes Super Rugby has never been so good. And for those of us of the same vintage as Herbert, it’s hard to disagree. The quality of the competition this year has been outstanding.
For years Super Rugby has suffered because of surplus syndrome: too many teams, too many poor games weighing it down and too many time zones. It had forgotten the “leave them wanting more” principle, and while the current 11-team format is slightly awkward, every game is watchable. It has improved to the point where the South Africans – who brought so much high-performance variety – are no longer missed from the entertainment point of view.
Wallabies form team of the week
- James Slipper (Brumbies)
- Richie Asiata (Reds)
- Allan Alaalatoa (Brumbies)
- Josh Canham (Reds)
- Ryan Smith (Reds)
- Tom Hooper (Brumbies
- Fraser McReight (Reds)
- Harry Wilson (Reds)
- Tate McDermott (Reds)
- Tom Lynagh (Reds)
- Corey Toole (Brumbies)
- Hunter Paisami (Reds)
- Len Ikitau (Brumbies) - Player of the week
- Andy Muihead (Brumbies)
- Tom Wright (Brumbies)
3. The Wallabies job criteria you can safely ignore
You would hope, or assume, that RA has told the candidates for the Wallabies job that early season Super Rugby results will not be counted for them or against them. For example, consider the absurdity of saying to Les Kiss: “OK mate, I see it says on your CV that you have more than two decades of coaching experience across the world, but just to warn you, we’re going to give that less weighting than a few results at the start of the 2025 season.” It would obviously be nonsensical, and to that end, the Reds’ win against the Waratahs on its own shouldn’t elevate Kiss or diminish Dan McKellar.
The process will undoubtedly be a lot more robust than that. But what you can take from the past two weeks is that Kiss has been around the traps for long enough to contextualise the heavy loss to the Crusaders, bin it and move on to the next challenge.
Tom Hooper is a loss for Australian rugby.Credit: Getty Images
4. Tom Hooper is leaving too early
There is the familiar whiff of mismanagement around big Tom Hooper, who is leaving Australian shores to join Exeter at the end of the Super Rugby season. This bloke is a No.6 all day long and twice on Sundays. A big, rugged, aggressive, physically imposing No.6.
But it is only now that we’re beginning to see him grow into the role he was built for. Hooper was a menace against the Drua on Friday but, of course, his short career to date has seen him shuffled between No.6 and the second row, and somewhat bizarrely, the No.7 jersey during the Wallabies’ doomed 2023 campaign. He’s still young enough to come back to Australia and let’s hope he does because his ability is obvious.
5. Erratic Lions favourite hurts the Scots
Scotland No.10 Finn Russell can attack, but he let the ill-disciplined French off the hook in a big way in Paris just as the Six Nations champions looked capable of imploding. A Russell error under the high ball almost gifted the French a try, but they did accept the next present when a poor Russell offload led to Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s crucial score at the start of the second half.
But the most unforgivable mistake was yet to come: failing to find touch from a penalty won by the excellent Jamie Ritchie. At that stage the score was just 23-16 to France, but the Scots did not score another point after that. Russell is still likely to be the senior British and Irish Lions No.10, but at 32 years old he’s still rocks and diamonds.
British and Irish Lions form team of the week
- Ellis Genge (England)
- Dan Sheehan (Ireland)
- Will Stuart (England)
- Maro Itoje (England)
- Gregor Brown (Scotland)
- Jamie Ritchie (Scotland)
- Ben Curry (England)
- Matt Fagerson (Scotland)
- Alex Mitchell (England)
- Fin Smith (England)
- Elliott Daly (England)
- Tom Jordan (Scotland)
- Tommy Freeman (England)
- Tom Roebuck (England)
- Hugo Keenan (Ireland)
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