Wallabies sweat on prop Taniela Tupou’s fitness after scrum ‘mess’ was exposed

Dave Rennie would have risen in London on Monday morning hoping his giant tight-head prop Taniela Tupou woke feeling fresh too. England vs Australia Rugby 2022

The Wallabies flew into the English capital on Sunday night just hours after their controversial 15-13 loss in Edinburgh. The noise of the bagpipes still ringing in their ears after letting slip a match that was there for the taking.

They left nursing some wounded men, with Jordan Petaia expected to miss the rest of the tour following a hamstring injury while Tupou left the field early in the second half due to concussion.

Tupou, a 135kg prop like no other in world rugby, was given a taste of his own medicine during the defeat when he was rocked to the core by centre Sam Johnson.

The 25-year-old now faces a race against the clock to pass concussion protocols to face Eddie Jones’ England next weekend.

Rennie spoke optimistically in the minutes after the momentum-killing loss that his game-changing forward would be fit to take on England.

“Nella, obviously, got a head knock,” said Rennie, who has a number of selection headaches to ponder including in the front-row, lock, halfback, inside centre, wing and fullback.

“He’s fine at the moment, so he’s got enough time to be available for next week, but obviously he has to go through fair protocols and find out later in the week if he’s available.”

The Wallabies will be desperate he is fit because their scrum was taken to the cleaners by Scotland, where Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper struggled.

The home side’s set-piece dominance was the biggest difference between the two sides, robbing James O’Connor and the Wallabies’ precious ball and opportunities to attack from first-phase.

“I thought it was a bit of a mess,” Rennie lamented.

“We’ll feed back directly to the referees.

“It’s a tough area to adjudicate.

“As happens every week around scrum, obviously didn’t agree with a number of the decisions.”

Although the loss was frustrating to viewers watching back home in Australia, losing to Scotland is no cause to be alarmed.

They were one of the Six Nations’ best in 2021 and knocked over England at Twickenham.

Scotland’s two defeats during the campaign were a combined four points, while the one-point nailbiting loss to Wales came despite a red card early in the second half. Their success led to seven players being rewarded with British and Irish Lions selection.

The Wallabies’ issues came at the breakdown, where they gave away two penalties, including a yellow card to Alaalatoa, which robbed Rennie’s men of tries.

The defeat also came after key changes at fly-half, inside centre and fullback following the withdrawals of Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi, as well as Reece Hodge’s injury at fullback.

Rennie must now decide whether to back his men to improve following the extra run together or make changes.

The Wallabies’ front-row struggled, but two years is a long time without facing a British side’s scrum and Alaalatoa and Slipper will have learnt plenty from the subtle dark arts used by their opponents.

Should Tupou be fit, he is someone who could spark some fear into England’s eyes, having won their previous seven encounters, including knocking the Wallabies out at the quarter-final stage.

While the Wallabies’ second-row were strong, Rennie will be tempted to throw Will Skelton into the fray immediately after a few promising touches upon his return to the national side.

Elsewhere, Tate McDermott could pose some unique challenges to England should he start over the experienced Nic White.

McDermott, who has yet to play at Twickenham, does not take a backwards step, while his electric running game could pose questions around the big English forwards and also take off some of the pressure of James O’Connor.

Although Izaia Perese had a sparkling cameo off the bench, Rennie could be tempted to start Kurtley Beale and shift Andrew Kellaway to the wing following Petaia’s injury.

That would allow for the midfield of Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau to build on their combination and give a Queensland Reds axis at 9-10-12.

“We’ll make an assessment around selection tomorrow,” Rennie said.

“We’ve talked about sharing the workload.”

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, who was denied a crucial try late in the first-half after an earlier controversial infringement at the breakdown, said the defeat was a “setback” but “raised” the “fire in the belly” ahead of their high stakes clash with England.

“The whole tour’s been pretty large in terms of what we want to achieve up here,” he said.

“That’s a setback today.

“The motivation was about going really well today and continuing the momentum from the year.

“We roll now into a six-day turnaround against the English.

“The record hasn’t been great, but a lot of these guys haven’t played up here, haven’t been a part of those games so don’t feel that stuff. England Wallabies Rugby stream

“It’s a great challenge for us next week to roll into England.

“The fire in the belly hasn’t distinguished at all. After that, it’s just raised.”