Tupou confirms move as Waratahs show Wallabies the way
While NSW coach Dan McKellar believes he provided a blueprint for Australian success in the series opener in Brisbane on July 19, Tupou didn't have the impact he hoped for in the Waratahs' 21-10 loss to the tourists in Sydney.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt's chief demand was to see the 29-year-old tighthead be "really strong at set piece" but that was Tupou's weakness at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night, giving away four penalties.
Tupou at least put his hand up for some big carries, at times skittling the Lions defence as the undermanned Waratahs made their sloppy rivals work for their win.
He confirmed post match that he will move to France to play for Racing 92 but hoped to again pull on the Wallabies jersey before his shift.
"I hope so. I know what Taniela can do, the challenge is can I get out there and do it for Australia," said a frustrated Tupou.
"I'm not in the team at the moment so I'm not sure what the goal is for the next few weeks. If I'm in, I'm in. If I'm not, I'll be on the side and supporting the boys."
Tupou said he wanted to stay in Australia but understood that, after a below-par season, Rugby Australia wouldn't match the money on offer.
"As much as I wanted to stay in Australia, Rugby Australia is going to do what they're going to do. I'm at peace with it," Tupou said.
"I understand what they're doing. It's like if I'm paying you to work for me and you're not working for me, why am I keeping you?
"And that's exactly what happened to me ... I wasn't performing."
McKellar felt Tupou was under a lot of scrutiny and was unlucky with some of the scrum penalties, and believed he would still be in consideration for the Wallabies squad, which will be named next Friday.
After the Western Force and Queensland both suffered heavy losses to the Lions, McKellar said the fighting Waratahs showed how to rattle their rivals.
The Lions dominated possession, territory, line-breaks and visits in the opposition quarter but the Waratahs line-speed and physicality suffocated their attack, forcing them into repeat errors.
"We spoke about putting them under pressure and terrorising them with our press defence because we felt they hadn't faced that in the early games," McKellar said.
"They're an outstanding team, a really strong group but they've got two arms and two legs, and if we take away their time and space and if we back that up with accuracy with our physicality, then we can create turnover opportunity off the back of it and we did that."
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"There's always going to be speculation, but it's up to people to put their best foot forward for a Test spot from now on in with regards to the chance they have got on Wednesday and on Saturday. "Players can play themselves in and players can play themselves out, but we are looking for a cohesive team performance and that is what we are trying to achieve. "There has to be movement in selection. The nature of the format of these two games allows for us to be open-minded. "We play on Saturday after this and have a full week's worth of training, so you have to stay open-minded. A closed book is not good for anyone. "I wouldn't call it a blank slate, you have always got ideas, but you need to leave wriggle room for things to unfold and make a judgement on what you see over the next couple of games." Providing X-factor on the bench are back row Henry Pollock and versatile playmaker Marcus Smith in an opportunity for both England stars to prove they are viable options against Australia. 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The Advertiser
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It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said. "I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult." The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel. Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line. Tuesday's 174-km fourth stage starts from Amiens and ends with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen. Tim Merlier has won the third stage of the Tour de France after a chaotic sprint finish on a crash-marred section that saw the Belgian edge just ahead of Italian rider Jonathan Milan. The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkerque. "He will be, as soon as possible, transferred to the hospital in Herentals, where he will undergo surgery." While Philipsen, who was also wearing the green jersey, ended his Tour on a sour note, it will give an opportunity to his Australian teammate Kaden Groves, who could step into the breach as lead sprinter for Alpecin-Deceuninck, despite this being his Tour de France debut. The winner of nine stages across the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, the 26-year-old Queenslander played his part in helping Philipsen to victory on day one. He finished seventh in the chasing pack on Monday and now becomes his team's main sprint focus. Philipsen's manager Philip Roodhooft said: "It's clear that the other two riders collided and as a result Jasper was hit and crashed badly. There's a reason for it but we're not talking about who's to blame, it's a case of bad luck and an incident in the race," "But obviously the circumstances for us as a team and for Jasper individually are terrible," he said. "It's a blow to the mental health of the whole team and it's the worst thing for Jasper. But it goes on." Coquard was visibly emotional in the aftermath of the race. "I was clearly off balance and lost the pedal. I'd like to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin, even if it wasn't deliberate. Even though I'm not a bad lad, it wasn't pleasant," he said. The next highest Australian stage three finishers were Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious) 47th, Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) 57th, Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) 103rd, Michael Storer, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) 130th and Harry Sweeny (EF Education) 136th. O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Australia's main hope for the General Classification, has moved himself up one more place to ninth position overall. The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque. Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish. "It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said. "I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult." The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel. Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line. Tuesday's 174-km fourth stage starts from Amiens and ends with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen. Tim Merlier has won the third stage of the Tour de France after a chaotic sprint finish on a crash-marred section that saw the Belgian edge just ahead of Italian rider Jonathan Milan. The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkerque. "He will be, as soon as possible, transferred to the hospital in Herentals, where he will undergo surgery." While Philipsen, who was also wearing the green jersey, ended his Tour on a sour note, it will give an opportunity to his Australian teammate Kaden Groves, who could step into the breach as lead sprinter for Alpecin-Deceuninck, despite this being his Tour de France debut. The winner of nine stages across the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, the 26-year-old Queenslander played his part in helping Philipsen to victory on day one. He finished seventh in the chasing pack on Monday and now becomes his team's main sprint focus. Philipsen's manager Philip Roodhooft said: "It's clear that the other two riders collided and as a result Jasper was hit and crashed badly. There's a reason for it but we're not talking about who's to blame, it's a case of bad luck and an incident in the race," "But obviously the circumstances for us as a team and for Jasper individually are terrible," he said. "It's a blow to the mental health of the whole team and it's the worst thing for Jasper. But it goes on." Coquard was visibly emotional in the aftermath of the race. "I was clearly off balance and lost the pedal. I'd like to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin, even if it wasn't deliberate. Even though I'm not a bad lad, it wasn't pleasant," he said. The next highest Australian stage three finishers were Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious) 47th, Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) 57th, Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) 103rd, Michael Storer, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) 130th and Harry Sweeny (EF Education) 136th. O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Australia's main hope for the General Classification, has moved himself up one more place to ninth position overall. The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque. Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish. "It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said. "I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult." The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel. Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line. Tuesday's 174-km fourth stage starts from Amiens and ends with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen.
Perth Now
7 hours ago
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Farrell: Lions Test spots still 'up for grabs'
Andy Farrell has picked his strongest British and Irish Lions team to take on ACT Brumbies with a warning they have yet to guarantee their selection for the first Test against Australia. Maro Itoje returns as captain for the Canberra showdown to lead a starting XV full of players considered first choice in their positions, including half-backs Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell. The fixture with the Brumbies is being treated by Farrell as a dry run for the series opener against the Wallabies on July 19. But he insisted his Lions stars still have to earn the jersey after leaving the door open for others to stake their claim, with Saturday's match against an AUNZ Invitational XV the final opportunity to impress. "The truth of the matter is we have got a good side that's going to take the field on Wednesday and I will tell you what I said to the team," the head coach said. "There's always going to be speculation, but it's up to people to put their best foot forward for a Test spot from now on in with regards to the chance they have got on Wednesday and on Saturday. "Players can play themselves in and players can play themselves out, but we are looking for a cohesive team performance and that is what we are trying to achieve. "There has to be movement in selection. The nature of the format of these two games allows for us to be open-minded. "We play on Saturday after this and have a full week's worth of training, so you have to stay open-minded. A closed book is not good for anyone. "I wouldn't call it a blank slate, you have always got ideas, but you need to leave wriggle room for things to unfold and make a judgement on what you see over the next couple of games." Providing X-factor on the bench are back row Henry Pollock and versatile playmaker Marcus Smith in an opportunity for both England stars to prove they are viable options against Australia. In normal circumstances flanker Tom Curry and prop Tadhg Furlong would be assured of Test places, but they need big games following underwhelming tours so far. Prop Ellis Genge, flanker Ollie Chessum and full-back Blair Kinghorn must also put their best foot forwards amid fierce competition for places. The likes of Dan Sheehan, Itoje, Gibson-Park, Russell and Jack Conan are nailed-on starters. After a disappointing performance against the New South Wales Waratahs on Saturday, the Lions are looking to build momentum before heading to Adelaide for their penultimate midweek game. The Brumbies were the only provincial side to beat the Lions in 2013 and are dangerous opponents. "There is a real sense of excitement because there's a lot of history that goes with this fixture," Farrell said. "The last two occasions we have played the Brumbies there have been four points in it, for and against. We know the challenge ahead and it's something we have been looking forward to."
