'He's going to attract interest': France beckons for Wallabies' million dollar man
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Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt remains hopeful of unleashing Taniela Tupou on the British and Irish Lions as cashed up clubs in France continue to circle for the enigmatic prop.
Tupou is off contract with Rugby Australia at the end of the season and Pau is just one of the Top 14 clubs reported to be in the market for a giant tighthead.
Partly due to injury, the 28-year-old has never quite realised his huge potential despite playing 58 Tests for Australia.
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Taniela Tupou arrives at Sydney International Airport. Getty
Tupou was rested from the NSW Waratahs' last game against the Fijian Drua and before that had been dropped to the bench by coach Dan McKellar.
"He's a big tighthead prop – he's going to attract interest from the French," McKellar said of the $1 million-per-season star earlier this month.
"He knows what I want and I won't delve into detail around those conversations... he's fit and got himself in good shape. Certain things just aren't clicking."
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Schmidt will be comforted by the strong form of Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa but scrummaging depth and X-factor will be vital against the Lions.
"I'd love for Taniela to get the best out of himself in the very near future because he is an immensely powerful man," the coach said at Wednesday's press conference to announce Les Kiss as his 2026 successor.
"He's got good Test match experience. We don't have massive Test match experience. In fact, if James Slipper (143 Tests) doesn't get picked, we lose a quarter of our caps in one man.
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"So when you compare what we're going to be playing against with the Lions, to have his experience, to have the power he brings and the confidence he can give around our scrum, set piece, it'd be great for him to be at the peak of his powers.
"How we get there, I think Dan McKellar has done a great job, Tom Carter in the background with his S and C (strength and conditioning) work. They've done a great job in trying to get Taniela closer to where he needs to be - the best version of himself on the field.
"And I'm still hopeful that we can see the best of him. Because if we can see the best of him, I'd love to see him in Australia, because I'd like us to make the best use of what could be a really pivotal player for us."
Taniela Tupou of the Waratahs. Twitter
Peter Horne, RA's director of high performance, sat next to Schmidt at Wednesday's presser at a rain soaked Allianz Stadium.
He would also "dearly" love Tupou to stay loyal to Australia while also pointing to 19 national player deals being struck under his watch over the last 12 months.
New Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt flanked by Peter Horne and Phil Waugh. Getty
The Lions tour and a home Rugby World Cup in 2027 can't come soon enough.
"We work hard in the background through the national contracting panel meetings and that's a really solid way of how do we identify, not only securing our depth chart, or going through to '27 and beyond, but making sure that there's a bit of a reset financially," Horne told reporters.
"We can afford what we can afford. We've got a really good platform in terms of securing events going forward and we want to make sure that we've got our best players. And Taniela's important to us but we want to see the best from him over the next couple of weeks and months into Super (Rugby)."
Schmidt also moved to clarify his position on selecting players that had signed to play abroad next season.
In a nutshell, they will need to be clearly better than rivals that are on the books of Australian clubs.
Incumbent Test No.10 Noah Lolesio is moving to Japan next season.
"I had a couple of discussions with Noah in the lead up to the decision he made, and, while disappointed with the decision, it's not a long-term decision," Schmidt said.
"No one is out of the mix and if Noah's at the top of his game or Langi Gleeson or Tom Hooper or Rob Leota... clarity is that we'll prioritise them (Australian-signed players), but clarity is also that nobody is out of the mix.
"And so if there is someone we believe that will add value and is clearly outplaying his opponents, as far as selection is concerned for the squad, then we know how tough the Lions are going to be.
"We know how deep they're going to go - really experienced, athletic and combative players. So we know that we're going to have to have as close as we can to the best group to compete against those guys."
