The case for 'Big Burrito' to be the first name on Wallabies team sheet

You can’t win a game of rugby without a scrum. The first person chosen on the team sheet should be the tighthead prop, then your reserve tighthead prop. These are the rugby adages that can be thrown around a lot, particularly at Test level.

Here’s where Massimo De Lutiis enters the picture from a Wallabies perspective.

There’s been so much written about the young Queenslander, the kid who stayed in the gym an entire off-season and who ballooned in both size and raw power, and who is now turning heads on the rugby field.

The Southport School graduate was earlier this year tossing up flying the nest to the Emerald Isles, but Rugby Australia and the Wallabies managed to ward off Irish advances to secure this young bull’s services.

Until this point, all this information is pretty well known, but do you know the nickname for Australia’s most exciting prop since Angus Bell?

“Big Burrito, it’s my gamer tag, so everyone just calls me Big Burrito,” Massimo told RugbyPass.

“We are playing Fortnite at the moment, but we were playing Call of Duty for a little bit there, which was good.”

Although this part of the chat with De Lutiis was a million miles away from footy, it was a big reminder of just how young and ‘normal’ this hulking talent is.

It is crazy to think that this young Queensland Red has set records at the club that even surpass gym feats set by the ‘Tongan Thor’, Taniela Tupou, in years gone by.

However, gym metrics are only one side of the equation. At 129 kg, 190 cm, and with only 18 Reds caps and one game for Australia A, Big Burrito has a big future, and it appears as though that will lead him to the Wallabies sooner rather than later.

When asked whether he had been in contact with Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt, the big prop didn’t give too much away.

“That January camp was probably the last comms I got, where we did get sent away with a lot of stuff they wanted to see during Super Rugby season, but as of late, I haven’t had many comms.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

0

Draws

0

Wins

5

Average Points scored

19

27

First try wins

60%

Home team wins

60%

Admittedly, it has been hard for De Lutiis to show his growth on his work-ons during the 2026 season due to injury, with the tighthead prop only managing three appearances, with just two of them being starts.

Nevertheless, the burgeoning talent has such immense power and skill that he now feels comfortable in the Super Rugby arena and is appearing ready for the next level already.

“I feel like we all have a good understanding of what is expected… technically, I haven’t had a lot of time under my belt (this season), but there is a clear understanding of what is expected of me.”

“Now that I am here (and not going to Ireland), and I am locked in, my clear goal is making Wallabies, and what they need for me is scrummaging, that’s the main thing, and then the rest, like getting around the park, runs, carries, mauls, all that stuff.”

The keyword in all of that is ‘scrummaging’; the Wallabies need a reliable, powerful, and immovable tighthead prop to emerge, and De Lutiis can absolutely grow in that role.

The Australian tighthead prop stocks sit in an interesting predicament at the moment.

Currently, there are four legitimate options at tighthead prop apart from De Lutiis, all of whom are older and more experienced, and three of them are capped: Allan Alaalatoa, Taniela Tupou, Zane Nonggorr, and the Brumbies’ Rhys Van Nek.

De Lutiis and Van Nek have represented Australia-A but are yet to reach the top level.

AAA is the most experienced, then comes Taniela Tupou, with these two being the first choice picks should a World Cup final be played tomorrow. This is firstly due to AAA’s experience and secondly due to Tupou’s immense power in the scrum.

While Van Nek and Nonggorr move brilliantly across the field and get through a lot of work, neither has had a dominant scrummaging season in Super Rugby Pacific, and while Nonggorr is leaps and bounds ahead of when he made his Test debut, his development has not been as linear as some would’ve liked.

This is where De Lutiis re-enters the chat; his dimensions as well as raw strength make him a jack of all trades, and while he may be the master of power, even at a Wallabies level, he would need to learn the dark arts of Test scrummaging very quickly.

While the four more experienced options are all great on their days and sound otherwise, with one eye on the World Cup, De Lutiis could be the missing piece of the puzzle to fully anchor the Wallabies scrum at the 2027 tournament.

While all this seems very serious for a bloke who is only 22 years old, that is how desperate the Wallabies are for a genuine standout tighthead to emerge, and why RA fought so hard to keep his services.

However, De Lutiis is not letting the hype get to him; he’s focused on playing rugby for the Reds and, as mentioned aspirationally, for the Wallabies.

If De Lutiis is chosen in the Wallabies’ July squad for the inaugural Nations Championship tournament, he and any other rookies could win the honour of being Wallaby No.1000.

And, should De Lutiis score during this time, then his wish would be for a very specific artist to be played in the stadium where he bags his first Test meat pie.”

“I reckon something by Taylor Swift; he’s (Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss) always playing it in the gym.”

All of what De Lutiis said in this interview shows two distinct things: first, De Lutiis is just a young man finding his way in the wide world of rugby, and second, that he has good balance in life, not letting himself become tunnel-visioned about the hulking potential he has, and the outside noise that comes with it.

Make no mistake, 22-year-old De Lutiis is, by all metrics, an elite talent, and it paints an exciting picture because many young props don’t reach the right shape or weight until they get into their mid-to-late twenties, and even then, they perhaps lack the technique to be a truly world-class scrummager.

Nevertheless, Big Burrito looks ready for the Test scene, and should he make the Wallabies, he must be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge he can about the dark arts of scrummaging, because the time when he is needed to start in a gold jersey may come a lot sooner than his late twenties.