Tuqiri embarks on unfinished business

Times Online.UK - Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:48 PM

ANY time that Jonny Wilkinson lines up for England against Australia, as he will once more on Saturday, the mind inevitably drifts back to that epic night in Sydney almost six years ago.

Assuming that Steve Thompson is also selected, Wilkinson will be one of two survivors from the XV who started the World Cup final in 2003.

Australia’s young side will have only one starter from 2003, if George Smith plays, but perhaps their most conspicuous absentee will be watching with interest from the stands.

Lote Tuqiri was sacked by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) in July for the latest transgression in his chequered disciplinary history.

The details were never revealed — and both parties are legally bound not to talk about them — although the ARU was understood to be investigating an alleged breach of the players’ code of conduct.

Tuqiri contested his sacking, but the parties settled out of court in August. And with that came the end of a fine career for the Wallabies, in which he won 67 caps and scored 30 tries, a tally exceeded by only David Campese and Chris Latham.

By a quirk of fate, Tuqiri, 30, has resurfaced in this country in the same week as his former team-mates will play at Twickenham, having signed for Leicester until the end of the season.

The wing is expected to make his debut from the bench in Leicester’s game against South Africa at Welford Road on Friday, before travelling to southwest London to watch the team he should still have been representing.

It did hurt initially, but you move on,” he said yesterday, after his second training session with Leicester. “I was high profile back in Australia and I could have been smarter about one or two things.
But that’s in the past. Now I just want to get back to playing.”

One of Tuqiri’s tries for Australia came in the 2003 final, when he leapt high above Jason Robinson to catch Stephen Larkham’s cross-kick.

Another came in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final in Marseilles, when he slipped Josh Lewsey’s tackle to score the only try of the game.

But Australia were again undone by Wilkinson, who kicked four penalty goals in a 12-10 victory, and Tuqiri expects the fly half to be a key contributor on Saturday.

“England have their injuries, but Australia have been rebuilding, too, and I think the kicking games will decide the result,” Tuqiri said.

“Jonny will have a big say and Matty Giteau [the Australia fly half] will need his radar on. Jonny hurts you from anywhere, as we’ve known in the past.”

After his sacking, Tuqiri’s options were limited. He was no longer permitted to play Super 14 rugby for the Waratahs and he was reduced to long hours of solitary training.

There has been talk of a return to rugby league with Wests Tigers, but for the moment his only commitment is with Leicester until May. He has moved to Leicestershire with his wife, Rebekka, and sons Samson, 4, and Imosi, 1.

His new club do not believe they are investing in damaged goods.

They have their own ways of dealing with troublemakers at Leicester, where anyone who steps out of line tends to get his comeuppance in the club’s famously uncompromising training sessions.

“In our environment, there won’t be any disciplinary issues,” Richard Cockerill, the head coach, said. “There are some very individual people in our squad, but they toe the line. He’ll have to work hard, turn up on time, do the right stuff. That’s how we operate.”

Tuqiri has stated his aim to help Leicester to win trophies, but he also harbours one other interesting ambition.

He is due to check with the IRB whether he will be eligible to play for Fiji, the country of his birth, in the 2011 World Cup.

Whether or not he is successful, here is a man with a clear sense of unfinished business.

Trials and tribulations:
July 2005 Fined for his part in an ice-throwing spat with Matt Henjak, his team-mate, in a Cape Town nightclub.
January 2007 Sent home from Australia training camp after failing fitness test.
March 2007 Apologises after pushing Sam Norton-Knight, his team-mate, in the back for his poor decision-making during a game for the Waratahs.
May 2007 Apologises to Michael O’Connor, the Australia selector, for putting his phone on loudspeaker during a personal conversation in which O’Connor was critical of Peter Hewat, who was listening at the time.
July 2007 Banned for two matches and fined A$20,000 (now about £11,000) for failing to attend a medical and registering an alcohol reading at a team breath test.