{"id":20009,"date":"2025-04-14T19:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/20009\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T19:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:37:13","slug":"wallabies-tim-horan-drops-bombshell-regarding-taniela-tupous-future-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/20009\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies: Tim Horan drops bombshell regarding Taniela Tupou&#8217;s future : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Waratahs and Wallabies tighthead prop Taniela Tupou has been linked with a shock move away from the Sydney-based Super Rugby Pacific outfit.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The 28-year-old joined the Waratahs on a one-year contract from the Melbourne Rebels when they were axed from Super Rugby Pacific at the end of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/Taniela-Tupou\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tupou<\/a> made a positive start to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/waratahs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Waratahs<\/a> career as he started in all of their first six <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tournament\/super-rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> matches before the Sydneysiders\u2019 head coach Dan McKellar dropped him to the replacements bench for their two recent games against Moana Pasifika and the Chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>Speculation over Tupou\u2019s future<\/p>\n<p>That has led to speculation about the Wallabies star\u2019s future and ahead of their 24-21 victory over the Chiefs at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, legendary Australia centre <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/Tim-Horan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Horan<\/a> revealed that according to his sources, Tupou is close to finalising a deal with a French club.<\/p>\n<p>Tupou\u2019s agent denied that speculation while Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar said he was not aware of it as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a big, tighthead prop \u2013 he\u2019s going to attract interest from the French,\u201d McKellar told The Sydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/world-rugby-may-alter-another-law-after-clearly-wrong-decision-in-super-rugby-pacific-clash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>World Rugby may alter ANOTHER law after \u2018clearly wrong\u2019 decision in Super Rugby Pacific clash<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tupou has worked on his conditioning which has led to him being more active in his loose play, but ahead of the Waratahs\u2019 clash with Moana McKellar hinted that the man known as the Tongan Thor can still improve his scrummaging.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He knows what I want\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about being a tighthead prop,\u201d McKellar said. \u201cHe knows what I want and I won\u2019t delve into detail around those conversations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis set-piece development\u2019s good. He\u2019s in good shape, a strong boy. He\u2019s worked hard, got some feedback after the Brumbies trial, and took that on board and has really got after it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite his improved fitness, things have not gone according to plan for Tupou at the Waratahs although McKellar was impressed by the behemoth prop\u2019s attitude during his stint with his team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis attitude has been superb since he walked in the door,\u201d McKellar said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s fit and got himself in good shape. Certain things just aren\u2019t clicking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/james-oconnor-picks-the-standout-fly-half-options-for-wallabies-boss-joe-schmidt-after-noah-lolesios-crazy-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James O\u2019Connor picks the \u2018standout\u2019 fly-half options for Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt after Noah Lolesio\u2019s \u2018crazy\u2019 decision<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waratahs and Wallabies tighthead prop Taniela Tupou has been linked with a shock move away from the Sydney-based&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[186,225,12,4151,79,10264,12989,16,15,12988],"class_list":{"0":"post-20009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-super-rugby","14":"tag-taniela-tupou","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-waratahs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114338008143829366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}