Joseph Suaalii was praised as a “monster” by his Australian midfield partner Len Ikitau after his eye-catching performance against England in his first professional rugby union match on Monday.
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The former rugby league star won the man-of-the-match award in the visitors’ 42-37 win at Twickenham on Saturday and is now training intensively with Wales.
“He’s a monster,” Ikitau told the Wallabies press conference in Cardiff ahead of Sunday’s game.
“Just being able to play next to him and see what he can do on the field is awesome. And we expect more from him now that he has played his first game.
“We saw it all in training. He came in, did what he needed to learn and showed off his skills on the field.
“A special moment for me and my family” | 00:34
“I thought it was really cool to see them defending 13 channels. He just wanted to participate and have the ball.”
Warren Gatland’s Wales are just one away from a record 11th successive Test match defeat after a 24-19 upset against Fiji and the Wallabies will be confident of a 10th win in their last 12 visits to Cardiff.
At the center of it all will be Suaalii, a man Wales knows all about, even if he hasn’t yet met him in person.
Wales flyhalf Gareth Anscombe described Suaalii’s masterclass as “really impressive.”
“He made the game look pretty easy, didn’t he?” Anscombe said. “But look, it will be a huge challenge and I am sure he will probably start in midfield.
“I thought he had a groundbreaking debut. He was dangerous, good in the air and quite wide.”
