Wallabies relief as Suaalii avoids fractured arm
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s hopes of finishing his first Wallabies tour with a flourish against Ireland are still alive after a more positive update on the injury blow he suffered against Scotland.
The code-hopping superstar thankfully avoided breaking his right arm in the bone-shuddering hit he put on fellow Aussie Sione Tuipulotu, Scotland’s captain, in the first half of the Wallabies’ defeat at Murrayfield, and the pain of the knock is subsiding.
“After making a tackle yesterday, Joseph Suaalii lost function and had severe pain in his right arm and was substituted,” a team statement from Dublin said.
“Since full time and after travelling with the team to Ireland, his function is returning, and pain is subsiding.
“He was medically reviewed post-game and there is no evidence of a fracture and will be monitored throughout the week.”
Of course, there’s no question that coach Joe Schmidt would risk playing Rugby Australia’s $5 million man if there is any possibility of causing any serious long-term damage in Saturday’s (Sunday AEDT) tour finale at Lansdowne Road, so his chances may still be slim with such a short turnaround between Tests.
But after initial reports the 21-year-old had suffered a broken wrist at Murrayfield, an outcome which could have kept his rugby education on ice for another two months, this counted as a real boost following the deflation of the end of their ‘grand slam’ hopes in Edinburgh with the 27-13 defeat.
NRL convert Suaalii had begun the tour in spectacular fashion, starting at outside centre in the thrilling win over England and annexing the man of the match award in his first game of rugby since he was a schoolboy.
He then enjoyed a late cameo off the bench in the hammering of Wales, before making a promising start for half-an-hour against the Scots with a couple of good runs, causing another touch of aerial mayhem at a restart and defending pretty well.
The thunderous tackle which sent Tuipulotu flying caused the problem, and also led to the pair exchanging angry words before Suaalii had to come straight off and never returned as he nursed a numb arm.
There was some more good news for the tourists as lock Jeremy Williams, who had been ruled out of Scotland match on the morning of the Test with illness, was reported to be “recovering positively” in the Irish capital.
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