Tupou back in groove

TANIELA Tupou has promised to be at 100 per cent destructive power for his Wallabies return, which he hopes can be as soon as Saturday night’s Test against South Africa at Suncorp Stadium.

The helpless feeling of being sidelined when the Wallabies were twice being carved up by the All Blacks last month hurt deeply, but being involved as a passenger on a dud hamstring would have helped no one. It is hard to imagine such a 135kg figure ever being “Tongan Thor Lite”, yet the prop knows he needs all his leg drive to be at his best to mince rival front-rows at scrum time, push off powerfully as a ballrunner and launch full throttle into his tackles.

“It’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to play the All Blacks, because you don’t want to play the best in the world at 80 per cent,” Tupou said.