Sky’s Tony Johnson is perplexed by the curious case of Taniela Tupou – aka the Tongan Thor.
THE INTERNET and portable communication have become so central to our lives, such thieves of our concentration, that we struggle to remember life before cell phone, texting, and email, and many must wonder how they could possibly have filled their days before the advent of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Nothing, no matter how important should require more than 140 characters to relate, selfies are the new autographs and instant sensations are created daily on Youtube. It might be a little uncharitable, but it might also be fair to suggest that Taniela Tupou is a product of this age.
Tupou, in case you are living beyond the reaches of the information super highway, is the 135 kilogram Sacred Heart College prop whose astonishing hat- trick of tries in a televised college game went viral on Youtube. And now the ‘ Tongan Thor’ has signed for the Queensland Reds, on a two- year deal that, if you believe the reports, trumped two NRL clubs, five French rugby clubs and not just the Blues, but the whole of New Zealand.
This despite New Zealand Schools apparently being prepared to overlook the fact that he was on a Tongan passport, and Blues coach John Kirwan expressing his interest.
Have the Blues let another one slip through their fingers, has New Zealand just let go another Willie Ofahengaue?
Having been stolen from under New Zealand’s nose, the Aussie media are now counting the days until Taniela gets to fulfill his lifetime ambition of playing for a country he has never lived in, and comes back to bite New Zealand rugby on the bum.
No question what we saw was quite astonishing. No one of that size should be so nimble, so quick over the ground, so utterly impossible to stop.
But we presume the Reds did a little more due diligence than that, and would know also how many rucks he hit in the game ( not many), how well he scrummaged ( okay), how good his lineout lifting was ( not very) and how much time he spent standing out in the backline trying to line up someone way smaller to run through, over or around ( quite a lot).
Look, I’m not trying to diss the kid, not playing the sour grapes sonata on a mini violin about us losing a seemingly remarkable young talent to our Trans Tasman neighbour.
What I’m saying is that Tupou is now going to be under all manner of expectation and pressure from all quarters to live up to a premature superstar billing all because of a three minute video clip.
Reds coach Richard Graham has already tried to dampen down the hype a bit by insisting Tupou has a few edges to knock off his game and much to learn, but the scrutiny will be intense.
Talk among some of the talent spotters in the New Zealand game suggests that whilst they had their eye on Tupou, not all were convinced of his potential. Apparently despite Kirwan’s reported enthusiasm, others in the Blues organisation had misgivings. Others were not impressed by the newspaper stories appearing to play New Zealand and Australia off against each other in the rush for his signature, which may not have been his doing at all, and may have misrepresented his position, but certainly created the impression. Time will tell who was right.
The Reds played a smart game getting his signature, not just through their dealings with Tupou, his agent ( yes, just like Hollywood teen stars, schoolboy rugby players now have agents) and his brother, but also in getting Quade Cooper to ring up and offer some big brotherly advice on making the right choices in life.
Now their challenge is to turn him into something more than a terrifying runner. He will need to learn the dark arts of scrummaging, moving bodies at ruck times, tackling effectively not just spectacularly, and being a crane at lineout time, considered by one qualified observer as a real shortcoming. That’s the problem with props who are terrifying runners. It can’t be at the expense of their core responsibilities, not at the top level.
New Zealand schools rugby went through a bad phase when coaches sought short cuts to success by just getting their biggest players to flatten the opposition.
I once watched in disbelief a secondary school game in which a prop of Tongan Thor proportions didn’t even play in the scrums on his own team’s ball, but lurked at second- five ready to run at some poor unsuspecting opposition back, whilst the team’s blindside flanker packed in the front- row and the nominated number 12 played on the side of the scrum.
I trust we’ve come through that. It’s true that the New Zealand Under 20 tight five lacked a bit of size at this year’s IRB Junior World Championship, but Tupou was not the only prop to catch the eye in First XV rugby this year.
Young men like Ayden Johnstone of Hamilton Boys’ High and Ethan Simpson of Christchurch Boys’ are good prospects in the traditional mode, and if you prefer the Tupou style, then check out Alex Fidow of Scots Colege, of similar behemoth proportions, 135 kgs at Year 12 level.
There are a few of them around, you just might not have seen them on Youtube.
At least they won’t have to live up to the hype of being an instant global sensation.