Australia 90 Tonga 7
TIMANA TAHU made huge inroads towards firming his future in rugby union as an inside centre yesterday by playing a role in six tries and scoring one himself in the No.12 slot for Australia A, who beat Tonga 90-7 in their Pacific Nations Cup clash at North Sydney Oval.
The NSW Waratah and former Parramatta Eels back who is in his first year of rugby, relished every touch of ball, run and pass he made against Tonga.
It was an impressive game for the entire Australia A squad who dominated the Tongans in all facets of play and lead the Pacific Nations Cup.
To hone his development at No.12 Tahu is also likely to stay with Australia A, who play Fiji at Ballymore on Sunday and then New Zealand Maori at the SFS on July 6.
But Tahu is certainly happy to continue the path that was set when Wallabies coach Robbie Deans asked Australia A coach Phil Mooney to start him there yesterday.
"I think 12 is more of a position for me. You get heaps of touches at the ball. There was heaps of work, but I am feeling pretty comfortable at 12," Tahu said.
"Phil came up to me the first day and said: 'Robbie Deans wants you to play 12' and I said: 'Sweet, mate'.
"I was happy. I was a bit curious about 12. I didn't want to use it as a crash-and-bash position. Robbie wanted me to use my footwork and ball skills as well."
Tahu fulfilled the mission before a vocal 6817 crowd in the dry but cool conditions.
"Anyone that has ever seen him play knows that he is capable of doing the very difficult [and] make it look easy," Mooney said.
"In space, he is as good as any footballer in any code. He was outstanding the way he manipulates that space, and promotes ball for support players."
Tahu's first imprint on the game was at the sixth minute when he passed to winger Digby Ioane, who scored the first of Australia A's 14 tries.
Two minutes later he made a bust and two passes in support play to set up outside centre Morgan Turinui for his one try for the game.
He featured in four more: one more by Ioane, two of No.8 Stephen Hoiles's four for the game and one of Drew Mitchell's two on return from injury at full-back in the second half.
He also scored Australia's sixth try at the 37th minute to put them 36-0 up on conversion.
Tahu's timing was perfect as Deans was there watching the game.
"He played there very effectively. That is clearly one position he could play for sure," Deans said.
"Maybe it is a little bit easier for him both on attack and defence to that end to be a little bit closer to the action. You are forced to do things and forced to try things where you can sort of avoid those involvements from wider out, particularly on the wing. What he did, he did well. There is obviously still a lot of scope for growth. But every time he plays he will be better for it."
