{"id":263711,"date":"2025-07-14T08:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T08:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263711\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T08:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T08:03:09","slug":"joseph-aukuso-suaalii-learns-from-origin-pain-before-renewing-hostilities-with-lions-australia-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263711\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii learns from Origin pain before renewing hostilities with Lions | Australia rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies gun Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has avoided throwing fuel on the fire ahead of a possible spicy rematch with British and Irish Lions centre Sione Tuipulotu in Saturday\u2019s opening Test in Brisbane<\/a><\/p>\n

The star league recruit and the Melbourne-raised Scotland captain had to be separated in a skirmish in their first meeting at Murrayfield last November.<\/p>\n

Suaalii laid a massive tackle on his opposite number but then stayed down after injuring his arm. Tuipulotu then sledged the rookie Wallaby, who jumped back to his feet and fired back, warning \u201cI will see you next time\u201d before departing the field for treatment on his wrist.<\/p>\n

Since then 28-year-old Tuipulotu was cautioned by Wallabies analyst Eoin Toolan, who he knows from his Melbourne Rebels days, to stop talking about the incident as Suaalii was \u201craring to go\u201d.<\/p>\n

With Tuipulotu favoured to start against the Wallabies, Suaalii downplayed hostilities between the pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s been a lot of talk around that moment but at the end of the day it\u2019s just a game of footy,\u201d the 21-year-old said on Monday in Brisbane. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer that whatever\u2019s said on the field stays on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just focused on what I can do for the team, that\u2019s it. I\u2019m not going to speak on it, to be fair. I always focus on myself first before I put my energy into someone else, and obviously fans want to see a rivalry and all that but at the end of the day, it\u2019s a team sport and I\u2019m just trying to do the best for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii hurts his arm in a collision with Scotland’s centre Sione Tuipulotu. Photograph: Andy Buchanan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

While Suaalii was reticent to bait his rival, his Wallabies teammate Will Skelton happily chimed in that he could see some fireworks happening at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s what you want, no?\u201d the giant lock said. \u201cYou want our 12s going against their 12s, you want our 13s going against their 13s \u2013 I think no matter what, it\u2019s going to be a physical battle and we\u2019re up for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suaalii rated his involvement in the Lions series above his sole State of Origin experience, and said it was the major incentive for his code switch.<\/p>\n

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But Suaalii can carry lessons he learned in State of Origin into the Lions series, after he was sent off just eight minutes into his NSW Blues debut for a high hit on Reece Walsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing I learned was my off-field, the way I was leading into that week,\u201d Suaalii said. \u201cIt taught me a lot about myself. Leading into these big games is just about being neutral. Not being too high or too low. Not playing the game before playing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was my biggest lesson from that game. Obviously these games are going to be big. But we\u2019re just focused on today\u2019s training session leading into the game on Saturday. Just really keeping it neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suaalii\u2019s standout memory of the 2013 Lions series, which Australia lost, was the dramatic Test debut of another code-hopper Israel Folau, who scored two tries in the opening match.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did kill it in that 2013 series and that was a big reason it was a dream of mine to play the Lions, because I remember watching him, Kurtley Beale, all these different players do their thing in the game and it sparked something for myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies gun Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has avoided throwing fuel on the fire ahead of a possible spicy rematch with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-263711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114850549546995029","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263711","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=263711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}