Taniela Tupou bared his soul. Did he also get his mojo back?

Sydney Morning Herald13-05-2025

'When he's on, he is one of the best tight head props in the world … and he's huge for the group. He creates energy for the group,' Porecki said.
'He's almost like a talisman for us. If he's on, what he creates for us as a team is gigantic. I feel like he's now finding a bit of rhythm.
'Scrummaging-wise, you know what he can bring as well. He's a confidence player. For him, putting out a really good performance on the weekend - apart from his yellow card, which I've been chipping [him] over - is good confidence for him as a player. That's what Australian rugby needs.'
Porecki, who returned from a calf injury last weekend, isn't even sure Tupou was in a slump. He believes he suffers from extraordinarily high expectations.
'There's heightened expectations on world-class players like Nela, which can be detrimental at times,' Porecki said.
'If you look at the first half of the year and what he was producing scrum-wise and dominance there, a lot of big teams around the world would literally pay their tight end just to get them scrum penalties, you know?
'But it goes back to the expectations people have on Taniela, and how he also wants to be playing peak, peak footy all the time.
'It's big for him in his own admission to speak like that [in the Herald interview] and be open like that in a world that might see that negatively. But I also think it shows that he's confident in himself, and that he knows he'll find it. The weekend was a big step in the right direction for him.'
The flipside to the joy around Tupou's try was the refusal of Kiwi referee James Doleman to reward the dominance of the NSW scrum just prior, and in several similar scrum contests over the last half-hour.
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Doleman said he was unwilling to reward Tupou 'going up and across', and NSW were denied a similar penalty in the Reds quarter, as the siren sounded and needing a try to draw level. McKellar declined to comment post-game on the contentious calls of Doleman, saying whistleblowers are a 'protected species'.
Schmidt said on Monday that Tupou was 'pretty unlucky on a couple of those scrums where he stayed down and through pretty well and didn't get reward.'
Porecki also sidestepped questions about their review of Doleman's decisions.
'You've got to paint the pictures that the referee wants. They weren't the pictures that he wanted. So we probably just have to be better to be going, 'what do you need from us to get some pay here?',' Porecki said.
'For Nela, it's like the scene from The Incredible Hulk, or from The Avengers, when you just look at him and you go 'Hulk smash'. I'm just looking at him on the field going, OK mate, you need to go.
'If he keeps his shape, and keeps his connection with whoever's on the field, especially tight five, we all know he's pretty hard to stop.'

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Bernard Tomic pulls off incredible Mallorca qualifying double to return to ATP Tour main draw

7NEWS

22 minutes ago

7NEWS

Bernard Tomic pulls off incredible Mallorca qualifying double to return to ATP Tour main draw

Australian tennis veteran Bernard Tomic is celebrating a return to the top after qualifying for an ATP Tour event for the first time since 2021. The 32-year-old pulled off an impressive double on the grass courts of Mallorca, claiming upset wins over world No.93 Jesper De Jong and world No.77 Aleksandar Kovacevic to reach the main draw. He had not beaten a top-100 rival since February 2023. Tomic, the world No.243, has been an ATP Challenger and third-tier ITF circuit regular and last played an ATP Tour-level event when he qualified for the 2021 Australian Open. He will face fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata in the first round at Mallorca. Mallorca will be the high point of the grass season for Tomic, who was in the mix for the Wimbledon qualifying draw before pulling out to focus on the Spanish event. Tristan Schoolkate will lead a 16-strong Australian contingent seeking Wimbledon places — and lucrative pay packets — this week. With 13 Australians (eight man and five women) already guaranteed in the main draw next week, Ilkley Trophy winner Schoolkate will spearhead the challenge to join them in the cut-throat qualifying tournament at nearby Roehampton. Players will have to come through three qualifying matches at the venue 5km from the All England Club to nail down one of the coveted 16 places in each of the singles draws a week on Monday. Making the main draw will guarantee each qualifier at least a £66,000 ($A137,000) pay day even if he or she loses in the first round. Schoolkate, who earned the biggest win of his burgeoning career at the picturesque Challenger event in Ilkley that likes to dub itself the 'Wimbledon of the North', has moved to 102nd in the rankings and is seeking a maiden appearance at the grass-court slam. The 24-year-old, second seed for the qualifying event, opens on Monday against Argentine world No.198 Facundo Diaz Acosta. Last year, Alex Bolt had just 10 minutes notice as an alternate that he would be a late replacement in the qualifying draw and went on to surprise everyone, not least himself, by going on to battle into the main draw. This year, somewhat better prepared, the 32-year-old Murray Bridge veteran will face Frenchman Harold Mayot first up, hoping to make the main draw for a fourth time. Four other Aussie men — Li Tu, Jason Kubler, James McCabe and Omar Jasika — will also open their bids on Monday while the world No.1 junior Emerson Jones will lead the women's qualifying challenge that begins on Tuesday. Jones, who reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon junior finals last year, will be joined in the draw by Talia Gibson, Priscilla Hon, Daria Saville, Astra Sharma, Destanee Aiava, Maddison Inglis, Lizette Cabrera, Arina Rodionova and Taylah Preston. Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur is not in action in any of the final pre-Wimbledon grass-court events after his early exit at Queen's Club. But seven SW19-bound Australians will feature in the final warm-up tournaments this week, including Tomic. James Duckworth beat British wildcard Johannus Monday 6-4 6-2 and Aleksandar Vukic downed American Jenson Brooksby 7-5 6-3 to book their places in the Eastbourne International men's main draw. Kim Birrell also made it to the traditional seaside event, defeating Anna Bondar 6-2 6-3 in Eastbourne qualifying, to join the country's top pair, Daria Kasatkina and Maya Joint, in the women's event. Ajla Tomljanovic, a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, beat Germany's Eva Lys, who retired when 6-4 3-2 down, to make it into the Bad Homburg WTA main draw.