Time for Nabuli to deliver on promise
JIM TUCKER BEFORE towering Eto Nabuli links with French club Bordeaux, he may like to consider living up to his potential on the wing for the Queensland Reds.
News of the impending move was broken in French media yesterday while the Reds were in Buenos Aires preparing for the tricky clash against the Jaguares on Sunday morning (Qld time).
Nabuli’s on-field persona fluctuates between sidestepping, steamrolling beast and placid spectator who may as well be watching from the grandstand.
That may seem overly harsh but when you have a 108kg, 1.97m frame you really should be doing more with it, more often, because his 33 Reds games are an even split.
Nabuli, 29, played a single Test for the Wallabies against Scotland last June yet few players in Australian rugby have been so quickly lapped because of Marika Koroibete’s rise.
Seasoned lock Kane Douglas has also been linked with a move to Bordeaux after the Super Rugby season.
Big displays from both players are much needed to beat the Jaguares because the Reds are trying to snap a dire record of just one win in 17 games on the road since 2015.
The Reds gained a valuable lesson on eliminating sloppy turnovers just by watching the NSW Waratahs self-destruct in their 38-28 loss in the same city last weekend.
The Jaguares have conceded the most penalties in Super Rugby so a disciplined Reds side, steering clear of the two yellow cards of Buenos Aires last year, is essential.
Nabuli was the unfair victim of one, a ridiculous sin-binning for a smothering tackle that was judged as deliberately knocking down a pass.
Reds coach Brad Thorn has made several subtle changes.
Young Angus Scott-Young has been selected for his first run-on role at flanker in place of Liam Wright, another 20year-old who will be used off the bench.
“Angus has earned it with how he’s played off the bench but I’ve also got the responsibility to look after young bodies like him (Wright) by managing loads,” Thorn said. Experienced utility Ben Lucas is on the bench as reserve halfback, after minor knee surgery, for his first Reds game since 2014.
“He’s a feisty competitor and I like that a lot plus his voice and crisp pass around the pack,” Thorn said.
Up front, recent signing Ruan Smith has come on to the bench as back-up tighthead prop while Andrew Ready is the new back-up hooker.
As ever, Thorn can cut to the commonsense of any situation quickly.
“It’s a long way to come to not perform so the boys are well aware of the job to do,” Thorn said.
The Reds have far more playmaking ability on the bench (Lucas, Hamish Stewart and Duncan Paia’aua) than in the starting side so it will be interesting how substitutions are managed.
Rugby Australia have decided that the contract of men’s sevens coach Andy Friend will not be renewed in July, which suggests a possible move for women’s sevens guru Tim Walsh.