How mum’s kitchen put Joseph-Aukuso Suaallii back on track to tame British and Irish Lions

“Nobody wants to crash the Ferrari, that’s not what anyone wants. I was a bit worried I was going to be guy who damaged Joseph before the Lions series,” Kellaway joked. “He looks alright, he’s doing a lot of talking, which is a good sign.”

Suaalii, who was also knocked out in the clash, said he wasn’t concerned about a series of recent concussions but felt a pang of concern when he went for x-rays a few days later, and doctors told him he had a fracture.

“Obviously it’s such an important time for myself and Australian rugby, and I want to be playing,” Suaalii said.

“So obviously there’s a little bit of nerves, but they come back straight away. I had surgery maybe three weeks ago now, and I’ve been looking good going into Lions.

“My face was really big for a bit. I was wearing a face mask everywhere, but it is slowly coming down. Still got a bit of baby fat around [but] going well. I’ll be fully fit.”

Suaalii said he was expecting the Lions Test series to be the biggest moments of his career, so far.

“You don’t always get to play against the Lions,” Suaalii said. “Some people play it once in your career, and it happens every 12 years. So I believe it’s going to be one of the biggest games of my life.”

Along with the broken jaw, Suaalii also missed six weeks of the Super Rugby season with a foot injury. It meant he only played seven games for the Tahs, and while he was in strong form, it’s not the full season of re-acclimatisation to rugby that Suaalii would have wanted.

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He is confident he has had enough time, however, and said the experience of playing fullback for NSW will help him if, as expected, he is returned to No.13 for the Wallabies.

“Even just being around the game, even just watching it, observing, learning from teammates, coaches – I feel like I’ve had a lot of time to digest a lot of information and just see it from a different angle, a different perspective.

“Playing at 15, playing at 13, even training on the wing. I feel like I’ve been learning so much. I feel like I’m just using all that information just to go out there and play rugby. Seeing it from a different perspective always helps you.”

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