Suaalii set for return as Waratahs coach shares crucial injury update

The NSW Waratahs are set to receive a big boost with only a handful of matches left to play in the Super Rugby Pacific regular season, with coach Dan McKellar insisting Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will be available for next week’s match against the Western Force.

Suaalii had been named at outside centre for an early-season clash with the Hurricanes at Allianz Stadium on March 6, but the midfielder was ruled out just before kick-off after picking up a hamstring injury during the warm-up.

The 22-year-old was ruled out for six to eight weeks, which follows a significant period spent on the sidelines last season. Suaalii has made nine Waratahs appearances since making the switch from rugby league, which is about 36 per cent of the team’s total fixtures.

But McKellar has revealed Suaalii will be back in the mix in round 12, as the Waratahs look to complete a late rise up the standings. New South Wales sits outside the top six with five matches left, following a 35-20 defeat to the Crusaders at One New Zealand Stadium on Friday.

McKellar was asked whether Suaalii would be available for an upcoming Australian derby against the Force, simply replying with: “Yes.” The Waratahs coach expects the 18-Test Wallaby to bring presence and leadership into the matchday side.

“His defence has been outstanding. Like Maxy [Jorgensen], we want to get him ball in space,” McKellar told reporters after the Super Round match.

“Big abrasive player with a point of different. He’s a player that we’ve missed. I think we’ve had 23 games now and he’s played eight of them since he’s been here. Hopefully we can turn that around and he finishes the season well and can help us achieve what we want to achieve.

“He was very, very close this week. He’s trained well, he’s in very good shape, The S&C staff have done a good job, the medical staff, so look forward to seeing big Su back out there.”

15 years on from the devastating Christchurch earthquakes, more than 25,000 fans packed the stands at the all-new One NZ Stadium. It was the first event played at the state-of-the-art venue, which will host another four Super Round matches over the weekend.

Leicester Fainga’anuku and Dallas McLeod were among the try-scorers as the previously sixth-placed Crusaders claimed an important win over the Waratahs. That result has kept the Tahs outside of the top six with the playoffs just around the corner.

The Tahs have a tough run home, which starts in round 12 against the Force in Sydney. New South Wales will then head overseas to take on the Highlanders and Fijian Drua, before hosting rivals the ACT Brumbies. Their final match of the round-robin is an away trip to Force.

“I think you probably need a few more points than what it was last year. I think last year, the Blues got in on six wins and nine bonus points. You probably need around 35, 34, 35 points to sneak in this year,” McKellar said.

“As we saw last weekend, upsets can happen but we’ve just got to focus on, seeing we’ve got a run that we believe we can get after.

“But we’ll deal with getting home, early flight back. Bit of travel over the next few weeks.”