TATAFU TO THE RESCUE
Wallabies hooker flies in to help out the Waratahs
RUGBY UNION: Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau will be rushed into the NSW team to play against Queensland this weekend after making a mad dash from England to help bolster the depleted Waratahs’ front row and push his claims for inclusion in this year’s World Cup.
The Waratahs’ secretly negotiated a deal with English club Leicester to borrow Polota-Nau while Tolu Latu is serving a sixweek suspension.
Polota-Nau didn’t need much convincing, hopping on the first plane home even before the terms of the loan were completed, and joined his former teammates at training yesterday.
“We’re finalising the paperwork and we’re hopeful that he would be available for that game,” head coach Daryl Gibson said.
“He’s very excited. Obviously he’s played 142 caps for the Waratahs, he has the opportunity to add to that but also it’s an opportunity for him to get in front of the Australian selectors.”
A Sydney local, Polota-Nau spent seven seasons with the Waratahs, winning the Super Rugby grand final in 2014, before spending a year with the Western Force, then moving to the East Midlands.
The 33-year-old has been getting little playing time with the Tigers but it was only after Latu was banned for charging into a ruck against the Sunwolves last weekend that the Waratahs made their move to get him back to Sydney.
“It’s very rare to obviously have midterm cover as such but it really works for Tatafu in the fact that he gets an opportunity to get in front of the rugby selectors here in this country and show what he can do, and for us we’ve got two really important derbys coming up,” Gibson
said. “Part of his goal is to make the Rugby World Cup squad and the best way he can do that is by playing rugby and playing in the Super Rugby competition.” While Gibson said Polota-Nau would not start against the Reds, he expected him to come on at some stage and provide some stability to the NSW scrum, which remains a work in progress.
“It’s an area we’re putting a lot of work into at the moment,” Gibson said.
“We know it’s something we need to improve and we know that’s a strength of the Reds, it’s what they’ve been training for so that’s our first challenge. “That’s one area Taf excels in. Certainly he’s a big body, certainly add to that scrimmaging strength on our behalf.”