'Over there I'm one of the small guys': Taniela Tupou taking French scrum lessons into Wallabies return

Taniela Tupou, only half-jokingly, reckons his golf is now better than his English.

And he’s learnt how to “cheat” in the scrum.

That’s what a season in Paris with Top 14 club Racing 92 has done to the rejuvenated Wallabies prop, who has returned home to Brisbane to face the French a new man.

“I’m not really a fan of going and looking at the bloody Eiffel Tower and stuff,” he said ahead of Saturday’s clash at Suncorp Stadium.

“I’m in my corner doing my own thing.

“But having new boys (teammates), new coaches, learning French … I’m into golf now.

“It was the change I needed … and it happens to be in Paris – what a city.”

The Tongan-born wrecking ball was lured to the Queensland Reds from Auckland in 2014 and had huge foreign interest before re-signing a bumper deal to stay at Ballymore in 2019.

He never wanted to leave Brisbane but by the time he did, in 2023 to join the Melbourne Rebels, the man dubbed Tongan Thor was not enjoying his football and was looking for a quick fix.

It didn’t come at the Rebels, and when they folded and he headed to the NSW Waratahs it didn’t come there either.

“Then I had an opportunity to go to (Racing 92). Spoke to a few people, decided to go and thank God I decided, because I needed a change,” he said.

“No idea what would have happened if I stayed, but I’m glad I left. My head was not where it should have been.”

Tupou, after initially caving in to the Parisian bakery scene, flicked the switch on his diet and relished the new setting for his scrum education.

“I struggled a bit when I arrived … the French know how to cheat in the scrum,” Tupou grinned, before admitting he “did cheat a bit here” before the move.

“I thought it was going to be easier and I was wrong; it was hard and took a few months to get used to it.”

He described the French scrum as “a bit more freestyle” than he had encountered.

“You have a licence,” he said. “Here, there’s a gap in the scrum but in France you find your own gap.

“Plus over here I’m one of the big guys. Over there I’m one of the small guys.”

His French is decent and he’s taken up golf, joking that his “golf is better than his English at the moment” as he adjusts to an Australian return.

Tupou came off the bench in Australia’s loss to Ireland in Sydney on Saturday.

Contracted in Paris until 2028, he will have a familiarity with this weekend’s scrum rivals – in particular lock Emmanual Meafou, who played at Brothers in Brisbane with Tupou, Fraser McReight and Wallabies captain Harry Wilson.

“I’m a big fan of his work,” Tupou said. “Happy for him but this week we’ll go after him.

“I’ve learnt enough to challenge them. I’ve got a couple (of tricks) up my sleeve to use this weekend.”

Tupou wants to play as many Tests as possible this year but said nothing had been locked in with club or country beyond next week’s Perth Test against Italy, after which coach Joe Schmidt will hand over to Les Kiss.

“Part of me was saying it was my last game, but part of me was saying, ‘You’ve got more in you’,” he said of his internal dialogue following last year’s European tour.

McReight hopes to see plenty more of the Tupou in Wallabies gold.

“He’s so important (to us) and I’m so happy for him … and you can see how happy he is,” the flanker said.

“He’s fit, he loves doing things he wasn’t doing here and that’s a credit to him.

“He’s doing so much better and you can tell by the way he’s training and is around the group.

“We love the big fella and just want him out there on the park as much as possible.”