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The Tongan Thor re-commits to Rugby Australia on a long-term deal

Taniela Tupou. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou has put pen to paper on a new four-year deal with Rugby Australia and the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) to extend his stay at the Reds.

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The ‘Tongan Thor’ will now remain on Australian shores until at least the end of the 2023 season, in a deal that secures his eligibility for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

The 23-year old first joined Queensland in 2014 and quickly established himself as a Super Rugby star, after taking home the Player of the Season at the 2018 Rugby Australia Awards.

Tupou was invited on the Wallabies 2016 Spring Tour as a Development Player before earning his first Test cap against Scotland at Murrayfield the following year.

“I’m very excited to sign for the next few years. Queensland and Australia offered me the first opportunity out of school and I feel I have more to do to repay that faith,” he said.

“I only started playing consistently in the last two or three years, so I think there’s still more for me to offer in Australia for the Reds and Wallabies.

“We have a really good young group in Queensland who have been working hard the last few years and I know we’re heading in the right direction.

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“I love playing for Australia. Obviously growing up as a kid, watching them, and now being able to pull on the jersey is an honour. To know that I will be here for the next four years is exciting because it means I may have the opportunity to pull on the jersey again if I continue to work hard.”

Tupou grew up in Tonga but moved to Auckland to join Sacred Heart College on a scholarship in 2011 after touring New Zealand with a Tongan U14 side.

The tighthead prop has notched 14 Tests caps and two tries.

– Rugby Australia

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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