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Wallabies prop set to miss the rest of the season after 'demoralising' repeat injury

Angus Bell of the Waratahs reacts during the round one Super Rugby Pacific match between NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies at Allianz Stadium, on February 24, 2023, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The NSW Waratahs have been dealt an early season blow with Wallabies prop Angus Bell set to miss the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific season after being injured against the Brumbies.

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Bell has ruptured a ligament in his big toe on the right foot, a repeat of the injury that ruled him out of Wallabies contention in 2022 after injuring the toe against England in the July series.

The 22-year-old is set to spend up to six months on the sidelines, missing the entire Super Rugby Pacific season and facing a race against the clock to be fit for Eddie Jones’ Wallabies season.

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The dynamic loosehead prop adds to the Wallabies front row concerns with star tighthead Taniela Tupou sidelined for the Super Rugby season after tearing his Achilles against Ireland last November.

The two younger props offer athleticism and playmaking, with Bell showing his class early in the Waratahs loss by setting up a try for wing Max Jorgensen with a strong carry and offload.

He had just won a massive scrum penalty for the Tahs before his injury a quarter way through the game, but did not celebrate in any way having known something had gone wrong.

Waratahs forwards coach Pauli Taumoepeau called the injury ‘demoralising’ after Bell had worked his way back from the same injury last year.

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“It’s demoralising,” Taumoepeau told Rugby.com.au.

“He’s done so much work to get to this point and he knew, he was silent.

“The scrum happened, we dominated, so as a forwards coach I was quite happy but he sort of caught my attention and I didn’t really understand what he was talking about.

“When I ran out there for him, he didn’t really give me anything other than getting 10 steps into it and he said, ‘My toe’s gone’.

“You could just tell it wasn’t good. He didn’t stop, he just kept walking straight past me back to the sheds. He knew straight away.

“I went back and looked at the footage. His reaction after a dominant scrum like that was he knew immediately what had happened.”

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H
Hellhound 22 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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