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Why Schmidt recalled Taniela Tupou to start for the Wallabies in third Test
By Ben Smith
Taniela Tupou will get his chance to play the British & Irish Lions in a Test match after featuring twice already during the tour for the Waratahs and the First Nations & Pasifika XV team.
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Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt named Tupou to start at tighthead prop after inspirational leader Allan Alaalatoa was ruled out through injury after last week’s Test.
Last week’s reserve Tom Robertson also makes way for Queenslander Zane Nonggorr on the bench for a new look front row.
Schmidt said Tupou’s work since joining the squad in Melbourne has impressed.
“We saw him in the First Nations & Pasifika game, I thought he really worked hard there,” Schmidt said.
“And he’s trained well. We are hopeful that Taniela can continue that upswing and bring us a real burst of energy.
“He is dynamic, his ability to move his feet and generate force is impressive. We’d love to see that and Saturday will be a first step back toward that I’m hoping.
“The FNP was a good example of that. He looked dynamic, he got a bit of line speed defensively. He was very keen at scrum time.
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The Wallabies head coach admitted that part of the changes to the team for the final Test are morale related after such a deflating last-minute loss in Melbourne.
The Wallabies spent 76 minutes in the lead after opening the scoring through the boot of Tom Lynagh in the fourth minute, only to see dreams of a deciding Test taken away by Lions fullback Hugo Keenan.
“One of the reasons we made a few changes is that when everyone is as flat as they were, I think bringing a new fewer guys in, it just freshens things up and those guys know it’s an opportunity for them,” he said.
“It’s a way to shift the malaise that continued for the 48 hours post-game, to try to get the upswing I described.”
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On the team moving on from the controversy, Schmidt had tried to enthuse the group in their own post-match review by looking at the things that went well.
“We’ve got a Test in 48 hours, you can lament all sorts of things,” Schmidt said.
“I actually feel like Andrea Piardi had a good game and there’s a couple of decisions we might not agree with but I thought he refereed well.
“We’re not looking at refereeing decisions, we are looking at what we could’ve done better, making sure we repair those things, but also as I mentioned, there was a real deflation in the playing group.
“We looked at some of the good things we did. My belief is that 18 months ago, no one gave us a chance of challenging the Lions.
“I think in total it is three tries apiece [in the first], and four tries to three and not nearly as much between the teams as maybe people might have expected.
“Now they’ve won the series and I’m of full praise for how they’ve worked their way through the tour to be unbeaten so far, and the way they worked their way back into the game at 23-5 down.”
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