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VIDEO: Fotu Auelua takes on the Lions

Matt Rowley May 2, 2012 44

No GravatarHe’s been making an impact on Australian rugby since joining the Brumbies, but on the weekend he left quite an impression on the Lions as well, as you can see below.

G&GR’s resident player encyclopaedia, Lee Grant, gave me this run down on the big man

Fotu Auelua is the talk of the town in rugby circles in Canberra. He’s an unlikely candidate: he had trouble with authority as a youth and got into scrapes with the police; he bounced from one high school to another and one wondered what would become of him not only in a rugby sense but also in an everyday sense.

He eventually found his way to the West Harbour club in Sydney. That and the strength of his family saw him through. He was looked at by the Tahs and played for their reserve team in 2006 with the likes of current stars Dave Dennis and Tom Carter, who he will play against on Saturday.

He went to France and got a contract with the Toulon club and played with other Aussies such as George Smith. Matt Henjak, and Luke Rooney, and other expats SBW, Felipe Contepomi and Jonny Wilkinson.

Something must have rubbed off on Fotu because he grew as a player. His brutish runs as a no. 8 were were still there, but he also developed skill in the lineout. In his last season at Toulon he played a lot in the centres, both outside and inside. He ran over his opponents in the midfield as expected, but also showed some deft ball playing skills.

I bet his name is down on Robbie Deans’ clipboard; so watch this space.

Looks like we might have a contender for Cliffy’s spot in the Wallabies?

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About the author: Matt Rowley View all posts by
Matt started G&GR just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has been enslaved ever since. Follow him on twitter: @MattRowley

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Discussion »

  • Joe Mac

    Wow

  • Skip

    that tackle might be hit of the year.

  • http://www.twitter.com/scrumblue scrumblue

    MASSIVE HIT at 0:45!

    Classic rib-tickler. Get’s me emotional.

  • Who Needs Melon

    West Harbour eh? That explains it.

    • skippy

      explain?
      he admits himself he was lazy, didnt appreciate his talent… make the effort. took.himself to french 2nd division and worked hard. got a 2nd chsnce. why the west harbour comment? interested to know.

  • Garry

    Deans has a clipboard?

    • Dougs

      Hopefully it says “remember to pick a backup openside this time…”

      I think I twisted a piece of my bowel watching that third hit, it was monstrous…

      • the realist

        You know none of the major nations chose a back up no 7 for the RWC and a lot didn’t even bring one ( in the months leading up it was evident that no 7′s were conceeding too many penalties). Ireland didn’t bring one specialist open side to the RWC (they played the entire tournament with two specialist no 6′s) and they kicked our arse. France who made the final and should’ve won have been picking two blindsides in Dusatoir and Bonnaire for years with the plan to dominate contacts without risking penalties by an openside playing at the limit of the law. Unless your no 7 is absolutely world class there is no point playing one which Deans knows. There are only 4 in the entire world good enough to play as a traditional open side (Pocock, Warburton, Brussow and McCaw) because the refs will not tolerate any mediocrity at the breakdown. Not having a back up to Pocock had nothing to do with us losing against Ireland. Pocock getting injured itself was the biggest reason we lost and having Hodgson there who struggles against proper test opposition (his game against Samoa showed him up) would not have made any difference against Ireland. Their 8 smashed our 8 because they played with more heart. End of. Get off the band wagon!

  • Alan

    monster. get him a wallaby jersey

    • http://www.andrewmosey.com Moses

      Get him two Wallabies jerseys and sew them together so he can fit into it to hulk smash Pierre Spies

      • Alan

        fact! wouldnt mind seeing him feast on a few boks n kiwis

  • Pedro

    Don’t ever pass me the ball with that guy around.

  • wallaby fan

    I’m not at all surprised that Auelua is doing so well. There was talk that he might get picked for the RWC last year and hindsight suggests we should’ve bitten the bullet and chosen him ahead of either Samo or Higginbotham. If anyone saw him at Toulon trust me he kills people on the rugby field in attack and defence! The French comp and the European cups are extremely strong competitions so the suggestion he was unproven last year was a little far fetched and I think we missed a trick not taking him to the RWC. The wallaby selectors this year would have to have rocks in heir heads not to pick Auelua either on the bench or starting ahead of Palu (and I’m a huge Palu fan). As for him playing centre that’s quite common it seems in France to choose loose forwrads in the centres, for example last weekend George Smith lined up at 12 for Stade Francais. He lined up against a new recruit at Toulon whom you may have heard of, Giteau. Toulon won.

    • johnny-boy

      Well I hope he can score points as well as tackle. How is his work rate apart from these monster hits ? He might be inspired under Jake White but he is more likely to just be confused under Deans, like everybody else. Is he related to the Tuilagi brothers ?

      • wallaby fan

        What do you mean score points? Forwards simply need to lay a platform for backs to score the points and this guy does that by getting over the advantage line in attack and defence. If they can score ‘points’ themselves well that’s a bonus and its also kinda irrelevant because it is the team that scores points once everyone is doing there job. But as you seem to want to judge players on personal points tallys I can say some of the tries he scored and set up for Toulon were pretty memorable. I’m talking 50-60m efforts steam rolling and running around fullbacks type tries, making breaks and cut out passses to his wingers etc in amongst the bulldozing over the line Palu style tries. My only criticism is he seems to have put on a lot of weight since last year so would he last an 80min test match?

        Last thank you for the comment ‘Is he related to the Tuilagi brothers?’ ……….. I’ve not lauged out loud to a blog in a while. Why would he be related to the Tuilagi bros???? Do you think all people with a samoan background must be related? Hilarious!

        • johnny-boy

          He’s not Samoan – spot the humour genius

      • wallaby fan

        He is samoan and even if he wasn’t what exactly is funny about your casual racism?

  • skippy

    i think youll find fotu was the topic of such a discussion in the forum last year. i actually suggested he was a dark horse for the wc. he has
    a aru top up contract so hes def on the radar. good luck to him. gives confidence to the late developers out there.

    • the realist

      Is that right? I know watching him on sky for Toulon a few times here and there the sky commentators rated him highly and talked about him being a dark horse last year for RWC selection but that the ARU felt he needed some super rugby experience. Which was agreed to be patronising and naive considering the standard of top european clubs. If you see the team sheets of the top clubs in europe they are basically packed with internationals, even on the bench. To even start at Toulon is an achievement. I say he’s the exact type of player missing in the wallaby set up.

    • Garry

      Dom’t get excited. The ARU radar is a vintage ’42 hand-me-down from the Brits.

      • the realist

        you’re a glass is half empty kinda guy right?

  • Ben

    imagine a Wallaby forward pack that has Palu,Auelua,TPN,Horwill and Pocock……..that will soften the Lions up somewhat.

    • the realist

      now imagine it without Horwill… even better!

    • wallaby fan

      Wallaby pack for the lions next year taking into consideration growth of a couple of younger players and subs next to starters or vice-versa: Front rowers are obvious but i’m taking a punt on the locks and another Timani;

      1:Robinson 2:PNAU/Moore 3: KEPU/Alexander 4: S Timani 5: Pyle/Simmons 6: Elsom/L Timani 7: Pocock (C) 8: Palu/Auelua

      • Mart

        Surely Fardy has been better than Pyle and Simmons.

        • billybobv

          Plus Fardy’s got the beard. Fear the Beard

        • wallaby fan

          lets not get carried away with fardy. hes alright but he’s a bit light for test rugby.

      • Pedro

        Pocock/Hooper

  • Jim

    Love 0:52 commentary “… and Boom,… this is a proper tackle”, gotta love some olds school jaap bloodlust!

  • Jack White For Wallabies Coach

    You think they were massive hits, you should have seen him in the ACT local rugby Comp….Knocked a few blocks out, with just clean straight running.
    Had the whole town talking..

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  • Redman

    Another kiwi monster. Is he actually allowed to play for us.i heard he was born in wellington.he’s not another one of they’re rejects is he?…

    • the realist

      He was an Australian schoolboy. Are you from NZ because you can’t spell?

      (‘they’re’ as in THEY ARE should read ‘their’ buddy)

  • Daniel

    Lordy! Those 3 hits would have been much better if McCaw, Burger and Nonu were on the receiving end.

    • Gold faithful

      Oh please can everybody get off his penis..hes played a few good super rugby games means nothing.test levels a step up. He cant take the boks on his own and certainly not the abs. Ye hes big brute.but I havnt seen any real ball skills thats required.ie pierre speise or keiran read..we have the habbit of running before walking.lets see him at test level before we call him the wallabie quick fix…

      • the realist

        um dude get on you tube i’m sure there is plenty of him playing for Toulon. he should walk into the wallaby set up!

        • Gold faithful

          Well you would like to hope that anybody stepping in to a test jersey is world class.dont know if he is yet.how people can get carried away in a few good super rugby performances..hes barely been tested yet.28 yrs old hes hardly the future either.

        • aussie werewolf in london

          Fotu hasn’t just played a couple of games of super rugby he’s been playing top class rugby in europe for years and has been killin em. The rugby world is bigger than super rugby and before you say super xv is superior look at some team sheets of the top heineken cup sides.

  • Daniel

    now, all i want to see is McCaw, Nonu and Burger on the end of those hits.

  • Pedro

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8xcj36mBYo&feature=related

    skip to around 3:08 to see a Lomu style effort.

    • fotu is dangerous

      The try at 3:08 was so momentous the moon’s gravitional pull was slightly altered which led to a mini tsunami in the cote d’azur.

  • gold faithful

    hay werewolf…or what ever you are. who the hell said super rugby was superior i certainly didn’t. what im saying is test rugbys a whole new level to any club rugby played around the world. just because a player kills it at club level doesn’t mean hes a world class eight and should walk in to the wallabies… thats all i’m saying. nobody had even heard of this guy until the last few weeks.all of a sudden hes the next big thing to tame our counterparts. its just not going to happen. not in same league as read, spies harrinoriqi,heaslip,faletau…now they’re world class players and walk in to test team.. not this flop

    • aussie werewolf in london

      where do you think the 6 nations get their players from? when you say nobody do you include the millions in europe who watch rugby and know who he is and when you mention the best no 8′s in europe you realise that these are the guys he’s been mixing it with these last 5 years. Again the world is bigger than the bubble you live in. Super rugby is a higher standard than most clubs of course but the best heineken cup teams ie munster, leinster, ulster, clermont avurgne, toulouse, toulon, stade francais etc are either the equal of the best in super rugby or would be competitive. He hasn’t just appeared from nowhere is all i’m saying. He’s ready for test rugby and has been for years.

  • jamjam

    Fotu Auelua born Wellington Island Bay,NZ left when we were kids and was educated and lived in Australia. He is huge,he can run and he can hit,simple basic skills done to near perfection and you saying he needs the ball skills to match? Mate,you obviously don’t know how to play rugby properly,ball skills are not for number 8 as long as you can hold it and run people over with it then thats your job.Its the backs who need the ball skills not forwards you egg,yeah kieran reid has skills with the ball he doesnt offer us kiwis the running power or the defensive intimidation factor we need.He offers you aussies the power from the back and over time within the system will hone his other skills to become that number 8 that you have sorely missed.Palu and samo are great players but have slacked off and took what they have for granted.You should be happy that he returned back home to Australia and play for Australia at younger grades because NZ is sorely missing a number 8 like him.

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