The 53-year-old \ufeffhad his first chat with Australian reporters after a vigorous contact conditioning session with an extended train-on squad on Sydney's Coogee Beach.<\/p>\n
Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific final on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Jones will name his Rugby Championship squad on Sunday as the Wallabies prepare for a daunting opener against the world champion Springboks on July 9 (AEST).<\/p>\n Tupou, who ruptured his Achilles against Ireland in November, is yet to return to the field but was moving freely in the crisp seaside air on Tuesday.<\/p>\n "People who have known him said this is as hard as he's ever worked," said former Bath coach Hatley, who replaced Petrus du Plessis as Australia's scrum guru in May.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Gripping final day awaits after Broad wobbles Aussies<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Football fan hit with huge ban for 'offensive' shirt<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Root's outrageous first-ball ramp shot attempt<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n "So I couldn't be more pleased with him at the moment. On his day he's as good as anybody in the world. Not just carrying the ball, but actually what he does at set piece – he's a mountain of a man… Taniela needs to keep pushing to get him where we need to get to, but he's right on track."<\/p>\n Hatley said the 27-year-old was on track to play against South Africa in Pretoria.\ufeff<\/p>\n "Yeah, that's what we're talking to him about. Every day is just an opportunity for him to get closer and closer. Probably the most pleasing thing for me is he's a bloke coming to grab us, his weight's dropped.<\/p>\n NEW PODCAST! Sean Maloney, Morgan Turinui and Stephen Hoiles work out where the Brumbies came unstuck, hand out some awards and preview the final between the Chiefs and Crusaders<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/awards-night-the-last-dance\/embed?style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n "He's into the head of S and C (strength and conditioning coach Jon Clarke), he's into me every day. His application, his attitude has been outstanding."<\/p>\n Hatley said Tupou's "explosive ability" was what set him apart from other tightheads.<\/p>\n "Those are the ones that can cause you problems."<\/p>\n Hatley was also optimistic that Brumbies captain Alaalatoa, Australia's other leading tighthead, would overcome his calf injury for the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n "If they'd made the (Super Rugby Pacific) final, I'm pretty sure Al would have been involved. He's an unbelievably diligent person. He's been working his backside off… I expect when he comes in next week that he'll be firing into everywhere."<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hatley said exciting loosehead B\ufeffell was "flying" in his own comeback after rupturing the ligament in the big toe of his right foot in February.<\/p>\n "He's full speed – again we're blessed athletically from a prop point of view of someone who moves exceptionally well. And his scrum is getting better all the time, you know, for a young man, he's already got good Test experience. He hasn't played for a bit.<\/p>\n "He was into scrums yesterday. He's going to be an important part of what we do."<\/p>\n Regardless of which props pack down for the first scrum at altitude at Loftus Versfeld, it will be a major litmus test at a historical graveyard for the Wallabies.<\/p>\n "They seem to have a factory there where they just turn up props, don't they? It's a great test, that's probably what we would have wanted, to go away to Loftus, which is a real fortress for them," Hatley said.<\/p>\n "A game where Australia haven't won before and take on the world champions… I couldn't be more pleased that we've got them away to start off with."<\/p>\n Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber has named a squad that includes battle hardened props Thomas du Toit, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Frans Malherbe, Ox Nche and Trevor Nyakane who will immediately want to test Australia's manhood.<\/p>\n "South Africa, everyone thinks that with their bomb squad etc that they're the best scrum in the world," Hatley said.<\/p>\n "So the perception is massively important, you know, not giving away set piece penalties because that's what keeps people in games. So yeah, perception is going to be really important. That's why we're going to be as clean as we can, but still being aggressive and getting off everything. You know, we don't need any angels.<\/p>\n "We need to be attacking every set piece that we can."<\/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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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