In the final moments before kickoff at Twickenham, with the field clearing of hangers-on, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii crouched on his haunches, in the centre of the field.
He plucked some grass and gazed around the vast stadium, nodding his head and soaking in the buzz of the 81,000-strong crowd. When Suaalii looked up and realised it was all being captured on the stadium screen, he grinned.
Pressure? What pressure?
“After the anthem, even just hearing the crowd, I just wanted to soak it in before I started playing,” Suaalii said. “There’s not many times you get to play at Twickenham, and debut here. That was the biggest thing, just soaking everything up.”
Then followed a spectacular 84 minutes of thrilling action, and by the end of it, the Wallabies had won and questions around about whether Suaalii belonged in the high-pressure world of Test rugby had well-and-truly evaporated.
Big screen star … Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the big screen at Twickenham.Credit: Stan Sport
That part didn’t even need 84 minutes, in fact. Suaalii got into the game with some early tackles, and began eliciting whistles and head-shakes from the locals with soaring leaps over Maro Itoje from re-starts.
When Suaalii jinked outside and laid on Tom Wright’s 26th minute by drawing two defenders and popping a basketball pass, it was clear the 21-year-old was no ordinary debutant.
More athletic leaps and some offloads in contact filled out the highlight reel, but it was also the unseen and unappreciated reads in defence that impressed. Suaalii defended in the notoriously tough no.13 channel, and England had no real success in exploiting him.
“Honestly, it was just an amazing experience,” Suaalii said after the game. “I was always a dream of mine to come and play overseas. My old man [has] always said to me, there’s a big world out there and it’s rugby brings that. Just to play here today, honestly, was special.”
Having no real awareness of Suaalii at the start of the week, by the end of it the British audience was well and truly smitten. The hosts awarded a sheepish Suaalii man of the match, and the English newspapers and websites were awash on Sunday with glowing reports about the big-dollar rugby league recruit who “could save Australian rugby”.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii after winning his first Test cap at Twickenham.Credit: Julius Dimitaga/Rugby Australia
It was all a fraction over-egged, but there was no mistaking the degree of difficulty, and all the pressure on Suaalii’s young shoulders.
For his part, he took it all in his stride.
Standing in a media room under Twickenham Stadium an hour after the game, with celebratory ula lole around his neck, Suaalii said his cross-code transition had been a whirlwind in the past six weeks but he’d shielded himself from all the “external” noise ahead of the Test, where questions around his rushed inclusion as a starter had swirled.
Did he feel nervous when told he would start?
Suaalii sets up Tom Wright for a try.Credit: Getty Images
“Honestly, I was just ready for anything. Just with my mindset – I want to play. I don’t want to sit and wait,” Suaalii said.
“That’s the best way I’ve learned, just get on the field and just play. So when Joe gave me that nod that I was gonna play, I was very emotional at the time but also I knew I had to get the job done.”
He parked the emotions until after the win, where he went and hugged mum Selina and dad Chris, who’d flown in from Sydney a day before. They later joined the Wallabies in Suaalii’s first Test cap presentation.
“My old man he actually took me to a game in 2003,” Suaalii said.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii with his parents Salina and Chris after winning his first Test cap at Twickenham.Credit: Julius Dimitaga/Rugby Australia
“I think I was only a month old. It was England versus Samoa … and the Pommies were singing loud.
“Yeah just to see him in the crowd today … they’ve been at every professional game I’ve played. So it’s always special to see them.
“That was my first time representing Australia.
“My grandpa came [emigrated] from Cambodia and my old man came from Samoa -and I’ve got six sisters and a brother and we all live in Australia in a safe country.
“So just representing Australia for the first time in a professional arena was a very special moment for myself and my family.”
