Waratahs coach Dan McKellar says he needs more from Taniela Tupou after dropping the Wallabies prop to the replacements bench for the first time this season.
McKellar is the latest in a growing list of Super Rugby coaches to have been faced with the thorny question of how to get the very best out of the talented tighthead, who is on a reported $1 million-a-year salary.
After last Friday’s 45-point loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington, McKellar has given rookie Daniel Botha the nod to start in place of Tupou against Moana Pasifika this Saturday in Auckland.
“I need to get more out of him [Tupou], and we’ll see if he can bring that in the last 30 minutes this week,” McKellar said.
“Dan Botha has been good and developed really nicely around the set-piece. We’ve spoken a lot about physicality and what it looks like for his game and he’s worked hard to deliver that, so he’ll get a start.”
Tupou remains a world-class scrummager but has been unable to have the same impact around the field for the Waratahs, with loosehead Angus Bell and No.8 Langi Gleeson acting as the main ball-carriers.
Taniela Tupou will start on the Waratahs bench for the first time this season.Credit: Getty Images
Tupou has played all six games for the Waratahs this season, averaging 51 minutes, four carries and six metres carried per match.
In contrast, Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa – Tupou’s main competitor for the Wallabies’ starting tighthead slot against the British and Irish Lions – has also played six games and averages 60 minutes, 12 carries and 12 metres carried per game.
McKellar is less concerned by Tupou’s playing minutes as the work he delivers on the field.
“He’s playing 50 minutes, he’s playing 60 minutes, so we’ve seen that,” McKellar said. “It’s the quantity and the quality of the work, which I know he’s on board with.”
McKellar has a strong relationship with Tupou, stemming from their time working together with the Wallabies in 2021 when the Waratahs coach was working as an assistant under Dave Rennie.
Four years ago, Tupou had a justified reputation as one of the best props in world rugby before suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon against Ireland at the end of 2022. McKellar believes Tupou can get back to his best after settling in well at the Waratahs on and off the field.
“His attitude and application have been excellent,” McKellar said. “I think he’s as light as he’s been in a long time, and he’s worked incredibly hard, and he’s coachable.
“He’s a little bit frustrated himself, so hopefully he can transfer that frustration onto the field on Saturday afternoon [against Moana Pasifika].
“But he’s a great bloke, a great man. The boys love him, the staff love him. He’s a very, very, very good rugby player when he gets it right, and we’re working hard with him to ensure that we give him the support and the coaching that he needs to allow him to play the level that he can play.”
Tupou is off contract at the end of the season and is reportedly keen to remain in Australia, with McKellar also keen to retain his services. If Rugby Australia agree on a new contract with the prop, it will be less than his current deal.
Last season for the Rebels, Tupou came off the bench in eight of the 14 games he played. Given his injury record, if not his salary, there is an argument that he could have more impact off the bench, in the manner of South Africa’s famed bomb squad approach.
McKellar said he could consider using Tupou as an impact sub in the future as the Waratahs utilise their full depth of tighthead props that includes Botha and Siosifa Amone.
“It’s a possibility [moving Tupou to the bench in the future], obviously, that’s what I’m looking at this week, and we’ll see how he goes,” McKellar said.
“But I think the quality that we’ve got in the front rowers, sometimes he’ll start, sometimes he’ll come off the bench… as I said, I can’t be any clearer, we want to get more out of him.”
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