{"id":295065,"date":"2023-05-10T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=295065"},"modified":"2023-05-10T10:59:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T10:59:45","slug":"star-wallabys-nervous-world-cup-waiting-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=295065","title":{"rendered":"Star Wallaby's nervous World Cup waiting game"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Taniela Tupou<\/a> fronted the media in the iconic Wallabies<\/a> jersey four months out from the Rugby World Cup<\/a> despite not knowing whether he'll wear it again this season.<\/p>\n

The 'Tongan Thor' has been a spectator ever since snapping his Achilles tendon playing Ireland late last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a brutal end to the 2022 season, having only just recovered from a calf injury that sidelined him midway through the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season with the Reds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

It's been a race against time to be fit for the World Cup ever since.<\/p>\n

\"Taniela<\/p>\n

As the end of this year's Super Rugby Pacific season nears, Tupou is only just gearing himself up to begin running again.<\/p>\n

It means he'll likely return to rugby by way of club-level competition, where he'll have to prove he's fit for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Even then, Tupou accepts there's no guarantee he'll be picked by new Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.<\/p>\n

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"At the moment, I'm focusing on trying to get that strength back on my Achilles and calf," said Tupou.<\/p>\n

"I think I'm two weeks away from running and I can't wait for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm not sure, maybe around July back playing some club footy \u2013 and who knows? It's up to Eddie if he wants me to be part of the team.<\/p>\n

"At the moment, my focus is getting back to running in two weeks' time and hopefully get some game time in club footy with the brothers."<\/p>\n

\"Tupou<\/p>\n

Tupou said he "didn't get much" out of Jones during the Wallabies training camp, in which he watched on remotely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What direction he did get from the rugby tyrant was to practice his ball carrying and looking for space.<\/p>\n

Assuming he is fit, the prop is hopeful he might be able to make a cameo in the condensed Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

If not there, then a Rugby World Cup warm-up against France might be his first appearance at the international level.<\/p>\n

Tupou offered a resounding "no" when asked if he would have the confidence going into the Rugby World Cup having not had much in the way of preparation.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it's all dependent on how well his Achilles has healed.<\/p>\n

"I'm lucky enough, I've got a few months before the World Cup for me to get that confidence back, back playing club footy and trying to earn my way back into international level," he explained.<\/p>\n

\"Taniela<\/p>\n

"Obviously Super Rugby will finish up at the time, but if I only have one month or two before the World Cup, I won't be as confident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Obviously coming back from a big injury like this, you need a few good games to get that confidence back and I'm lucky enough I've hopefully got three months to try and get that back. Fingers crossed."<\/p>\n

Tupou admitted the road to recovery has been a hard one, albeit aided by rehabilitating alongside Angus Bell who ruptured a ligament in his toe.<\/p>\n

The Tongan-born 27-year-old said his first injury wasn't too tough to swallow having played rugby "non-stop" for years, but the second had him itching to return.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"After four months, I'm like, 'you know what? I think I miss running', and it's hard watching my team, the Reds playing without me out there," he said.<\/p>\n

"I can only wish I was out there trying to help them out or be part of the team. This time around it's a bit different. I sort of wish I was out there.<\/p>\n

"Sitting back this time and looking back at what I've done in the jersey, I don't think I've done enough.<\/p>\n

"Hopefully when I'm back and if I'm back in the team I can get to the level where I think I can get to."<\/p>\n

The Wallabies will play South Africa in their opening Rugby Championship match on July 9 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Taniela Tupou fronted the media in the iconic Wallabies jersey four months out from the Rugby World Cup despite not knowing whether he'll […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295072,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295065\/revisions\/295072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/295067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}