Taniela Tupou in action for the Reds. Photo / Photosport
Taniela Tupou in action for the Reds. Photo / Photosport
Taniela Tupou has an obsolete tattoo of a rhino on his arm because his persona as the "Tongan Thor" went crazy when he arrived in Australia three years ago to chase a Wallabies jersey.
The affable 132kg prop has been living with overblown hype since his schoolboy days in Aucklandwhere the first YouTube footage surfaced of a kid hulk skittling defenders and running in 50m tries.
Over the past 16 months, Tupou has proved how much substance there is to his game as a quick-to-learn scrummager, a team player and as an influential two-time trophy winner with his Brisbane club Brothers and Queensland Country in the National Rugby Championship.
The explosive youngster can still run amok with the ball like few others which is now exciting coach Michael Cheika because he is finally residentially qualified to play for the Wallabies next week in time for the November 25 Test against Scotland in Edinburgh. The grounded Tupou, 21, realises he is still an apprentice prop and promotion is far more likely to be months or a year away not days.
"I'm eligible next week but it doesn't mean nothing," Tupou told the Courier Mail after flying in to London to join the Wallabies squad.
"I'll be giving training everything. If he (Cheika) thinks I'm ready now, that's good ... if he thinks I'll be ready in two year's time, I'll wait two years.
"Guys like (prop) Sekope (Kepu) I grew up watching as a little boy in Tonga. Now I get to train with him, learn off him and hopefully I get the chance to play with him before he retires."
Tupou will relish his first test chance so a bigger chunk of fans know he's far more than just a YouTube sensation.
"I want to change it so people are not saying 'I saw you on a YouTube clip' but 'I saw you playing hard in a test match'," Tupou said.
That said, even Tupou finds it hard to resist watching the footage. There's something about a young giant with a sidestep, palm-trunk thighs, defenders being skittled like Lilliputians and tries galore.
"Yes. It comes up on Facebook and some of my mates will tag me in it and why not watch it and see all the comments," Tupou said with a laugh.
"Sometimes I look at it and I'm like: 'Maybe I shouldn't eat that much, that jersey looks tight'."
The Tongan Thor nickname has stuck but have we all got it wrong judging by his tattoo? "I don't mind. It's just a name," Tupou said.
"Four years ago I came from school (in Auckland) where they used to call me 'The Runaway Rhino' but then I got to Australia and I was the Tongan Thor. It wasn't me, it wasn't my mates, it was the media."
Tupou is grateful to Country-cum-Reds coach Brad Thorn for nailing down his standards and former Reds coach Nick Stiles for a strong scrum education.
"Brad Thorn is not just a normal person. He's someone who has done it all, won everything, and you'd want to listen to him whatever he tells you to do," Tupou said. Tupou nearly came unstuck during the NRC when he didn't.
"He told me before one game to do something in the lineouts and I didn't do it. He wasn't going to pick me in the next game if I did it again," Tupou said.
"I had one job lifting the guy at the back of the lineout and I was more focused on getting the ball and running out. Just like that I fixed it. Little things like that, the one percenters, win games."
