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International

Tupou expected to start against Six Nations champions France

By AAP

02 Nov 2022

Taniela Tupou. (Photo by Jason O'Brien / www.photosport.nz)

Destructive prop Taniela Tupou will return to the Wallabies starting side after Allan Alaalatoa was ruled out of Sunday’s showdown with France in Paris.

Alaalatoa presented with concussion symptoms at halftime in Australia’s spring tour-opening 16-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield and was subsequently scratched from the second match.

The Wallabies face a huge test of character against the second-ranked Les Bleus as Dave Rennie’s inconsistent outfit chase back-to-back wins for the first time in 13 months.

Rugby Australia have "talked to the Kiwis" about fielding an ANZAC team to take on the British and Irish Lions in 2025. #ANZAC #Wallabies #AllBlacks https://t.co/QXt2PfAgWL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2022

France are riding a 10-match winning streak, Europe’s reigning Six Nations champions and 2023 Rugby World Cup hosts last tasting defeat 16 months ago in the series-deciding Test against Australia in Brisbane.

Rennie will name his full 23-man team on Thursday night, with France-based lock Will Skelton in line for a start in the second row after rejoining the Wallabies squad this week.

The 140kg behemoth could add further starch to the forward pack, while changes are also expected in the backline following a clunky attacking performance against Scotland.

Rennie has promised to rotate his three touring halfbacks, with Nic White likely to start after his rugby smarts proved pivotal in the Wallabies’ comeback win in Edinburgh.

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Comments on RugbyPass

Cantab 14 minutes ago

The Chiefs are better than the Crusaders

Pollyanna Bidwell needs a reality check if he thinks a Chiefs win is such a formality. They may scrape in but the Crusaders have the portents in their favor and know how to win against perceived odds . Just go back a couple of seasons when these teams last met in a final.

12 Go to comments

fl 17 minutes ago

Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

The competition is a bad idea and I suspect some teams won’t take it seriously, but assuming every team does then Bath will do reasonably well. Its pure ignorance to suggest that Northampton stand a much better shot.

I’d suggest an approximate ranking of the best club sides at present would be something like:

1. Leinster

2. Toulouse

3. Bordeaux

4. Chiefs

5. Blues

6. Brumbies

7. Bath

8. Crusaders

9. Toulon

10. Bulls

1 Go to comments

Hammer Head 24 minutes ago

Ian Foster's defiant approach with the All Blacks

Agreed. I was just highlighting the statement.

My money is on the All Blacks winning both games at home this year. Maybe dropping one. But they should win both.

Anyone with the idea that the boks will just march over there and beat the ABS at home is delusional. The margins between these two top teams are so close the safe money is betting on each team winning their home games. Much like the boks did last year against the ABs.

Respect

4 Go to comments

Cantab 28 minutes ago

Ian Foster's defiant approach with the All Blacks

He will of course have the opportunity to reclaim those lost trophies this year so don’t adversely judge him just yet. The team was showing promising signs in the latter part of last season. Sometimes the opposition plays better and well enough to beat us. No shame in that so long as learnings are definitely made.

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fl 29 minutes ago

Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

“I think it would have been interesting for the staff to have a closer eye on the Top 14”

I think the staff probably had a pretty close eye on the Top 14 fixture schedule. You can’t be in France and Australia at the same time!

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JW 31 minutes ago

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Look at those sponsors, good stuff India!

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JPM 32 minutes ago

Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

The same applies to RugbyPass which has been presenting every day/week tons of articles on Super Rugby, Premiership and URC but quite no article on Top 14 which semi-finals are played this weekend…

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fl 32 minutes ago

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Ravouvou wasn’t signed after the end of last season.

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AT 34 minutes ago

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Really good piece.

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fl 35 minutes ago

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wow!

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fl 36 minutes ago

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JVP has more international experience - and has looked better than Spencer in international rugby.

One weekend of rugby tells you very little. Even leaving aside international rugby, JVP has looked better than Spencer over the course of the premiership this season.

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RedWarrior 41 minutes ago

Scott Robertson opens up on drama surrounding Bongi Mbonambi's knock-on try

Bigot, are we?

Apologies again for beating you in the 2022 series. Even we couldn’t have realized just how many toys NZ would throw out of that particular pram. Now stick a soother in your gob and F**k Off, there’s a good lad.

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SK 41 minutes ago

Brumbies backed to rebound despite more semi-final heartbreak

“Look, they’ve lost some good players. Len Ikitau’s had an excellent season. Tom Hooper’s been magnificent all year. So there are a couple of big players that they are losing.
“Noah Lolesio obviously has been guiding the team around for years, and he’s another one, but they’ve been able to give guys really good game time this year.

The loss of star players is a real problem. The Brumbies will have to cover those losses next season and while there is some real promising players to come through the ranks the problem is these guys are experienced and have real quality which will be difficult to replace. The Brumbies will struggle to build if they cant retain their stars. As much as I would love to say that the Brumbies can take the next step up I have some doubts. For my mind if Australian rugby is to emerge with a Super Rugby winner they need to heavily resource one team as Ireland do with Leinster. They need to load 14 or 15 internationals into a side and give them money to bring in some talented overseas stars as well. Australian Rugby needs a Super Rugby winner. It cannot keep going through this cycle of subpar Super Rugby performances in which they get 2 playoff teams and 1 semi finalist every season while never taking the next step. It needs to host a Super Rugby final again. It needs to rebuild interest in the game at home and compete with the other codes and it can only do that with wins. We thought the Aussie teams could break the mould this season and release the grip of NZ on the Super Rugby title. It was promising for a while but in the end the result was the same.

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SadersMan 59 minutes ago

Tupou Vaa’i addresses ‘the elephant in the room’ before Super Rugby decider

Well, the Crusaders had 11 wins from 14 too. And go into the Final with 13/16 to 12/16 for the Chiefs. But none of this matters at kickoff.

Both sides start with 10 ABs but we have 4 ABs & a Wallaby on the bench compared to no bench internationals for the Chiefs. Is this an advantage? Debatable.

And while the Chiefs do have a choker elephant to deal with, we have an embarrassing SRP2024 herd of elephants to account for (in solidarity with the team, I changed my username).

We haven’t hit anywhere near our ceiling to date. Is Saturday the day? Exciting for both Clubs.

2 Go to comments

SadersMan 1 hour ago

Crusaders boosted by return of All Blacks enforcer for Grand Final

Starters well matched, benches well matched, TAB win odds both at 1.90$, what will decide?

Home advantage?

Cowbell ban?

Red/yellow cards?

Goal kicking?

TMO check check?

The Tea Lady?

. . . ????