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MONTPELLIER - Lote Tuqiri admits he's preparing to unleash a mountain of pent-up frustration so pity the Japanese Cherry Blossom who gets in his way on Saturday.
Tuqiri felt like a caged lion two months ago when put on a speed regeneration program and forced to sit out
the first two tests of the Australian domestic season.
Now, two days out from the Wallabies' Rugby World Cup opener against Japan in Lyon, the lion has grown and the cage has shrunk after a season that he acknowledged today had been "pretty ordinary", on and off the field.
"Mate, I'm jumping out of my skin. I just can't wait to play," Tuqiri said.
"I haven't played for so long now and it's probably been eating away at me and I just went to get out there and play an actual game, rather than running around the training track."
The crowd-pulling winger played just three of seven Tests since the Super 14 season and the frustration grew with two punishments for off-field mistakes.
He was just starting to hit top form when given a two-match ban for oversleeping and missing a commitment after the MCG win over New Zealand.
Then came the embarrassing midnight World Cup curfew slapped on Tuqiri and prop Matt Dunning after their well-publicised night out in Brisbane last month.
Fronting a press conference today after being named to return against Japan, Tuqiri was asked to sum up his season, which also included a try drought with the NSW Waratahs.
"Off the field, pretty ordinary and on the field, not much better," he said.
"A lot of things have been said, more about off-the-field issues this year than what I've been used to and I'd like to have everyone talk about on-field performances.
"I'm a rugby player first and foremost and that's what I'm doing and that's why I get talked about so I want to put in some good performances to be talked about for the right reasons.
"I'm trying to cast out the negativity.
"There's a lot of frustration ... and hopefully I can release some of that on Saturday."
Tuqiri said it was hard to come to terms with being told to tuck into bed before midnight when parents in Montpellier take their children to cafes past 11pm.
"They don't mind having their kids up pretty late at night over here, I think (son) Sam would be a mess at 11 o'clock at night," he said.
But he has taken little time to get noticed by the locals, putting on a show in front of 9,000 fans at an open training session on Sunday.
Tuqiri showboated to all sides of the Stade Yves du Manoir, gaining strong applause from each grandstand, much to the derision of teammates yelling out "jambon, jambon" - French for ham.
"I used to go out to training sessions to watch blokes run around (as a kid) and you like to give the crowd a bit of love and I thought that and I guess they love the black man," he said.
- AAP
