‘Everything I have is because of Australia’: Tupou on fear, faith and France

On a Thursday in Paris with the temperature hovering around zero, Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou is contemplating his past, present and future. The tighthead prop is bundled up in a First Nations and Pasifika team hoodie from the British and Irish Lions series, and his phone is filled with French language lessons ahead of a season at Racing 92 in Paris. Still, his immediate focus is Saturday’s Test against France at a sold-out Stade de France. At 29, Tupou is a young man, but as a tighthead prop, he says he sometimes feels 10 years older following thousands of brutal scrums. He cannot kick a ball without a rigorous warm-up. His back, neck, shoulders and legs ache after Test matches. Tupou has no fear of the physical punishment meted out on his body by a ruthless opposing loosehead, but he still feels nervous before every Test. The Wallabies jersey means so much to him that he cannot abide letting anyone down.