Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will never forget his debut, and neither will Australia, for the game he made his maiden appearance in is one of the best Wallabies games in history.
The match was an instant classic and Suaalii, or JAS as he is affectionately being named on the socials, has several moments immortalised in the highlight reels of the Wallabies’ biggest-ever win at Twickenham.
His raw athletic ability is the kind of stuff others dream of, and his professionalism and poise on one of rugby’s biggest stages was incredible.
To be an integral part of the Wallabies’ first try with one of his first touches set the tone for the performance to come, it was the kind of performance every Australian rugby fan hoped he would have.
It’s now a few days after the historic win and the elation, ecstasy, and pure joy is only just starting to mellow out, so how good was Suaalii really?
Why was he so successful in his debut?
And perhaps most exciting of all, how much better can the 21-year-old become?
Starting off with the pub test, what did the public give the performance out of 10?
Several publications listed player ratings which made for an average score of 9/10.
The most common score was 9, the highest score was 9.5, and it’s safe to say there was little disagreement from punters across the comment sections.
Suaalii scored higher than any other player, despite the likes of Angus Bell, Rob Valetini, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright having awesome performances, that’s saying something.
You only need to watch the game (or several replays), to see he shone brightly, but what do the numbers tell us?
Without being harsh, the numbers are a sobering read, and frankly much less exciting than the highlight clips.
The debut was amazing, and no one can take that away from him or the Wallabies, and it’s exciting to see how much room there is for improvement.
So, let’s go through the moment’s chronologically, to see how JAS’ involvements progressed throughout the game.
Sixth minute – leaping high
Elite aerial ability like that of JAS and former Wallaby Mark Nawaqanitawase has not been seen since Israel Folau.
The ability to control the skies adds pressure to a defending back three and gives the Wallabies a new dimension to their attack.
In just the sixth minute JAS out-leaps Maro Itoje, a 195cm lock who is being lifted by Will Stuart who is 189cm.
Had the pass not been so loose from the resulting ruck it would’ve been a perfect kick-off steal, giving the Wallabies cheap possession against a disorganised defence.
To be able to challenge like this off kick-offs adds an element of danger for opposition and creates an opportunity to attack from the outset of matches.
11th minute – defensive misread
Defence is an aspect of his game which will take time to perfect coming from rugby league.
Physically, he has the ability to dominate opposition but his technique and reads will take some time to adjust.
In this instance, Suaalii jams in on English prop Ellis Genge off the quick tap.
Wallaby second-rower Nick Frost evidently has him covered and makes the hit accordingly, but the Englishman had isolated JAS for this move, and it worked a treat.
Suaalii needed to look in front of him and trust that Frost had Genge covered, his read left halfback Jake Gordon alone to tackle a 120kg Chandler Cunningham-South – the resulting try was inevitable.
21st minute – the offloads
Like Sonny Bill Williams before him, JAS has a unique ability to free his arms for an offload, putting the players around him in space.
Yes, he’s strong, yes, he’s big, yes, he’s got good feet, but the one distinct immutable asset which separates JAS from the other Wallaby backs is height.
At 196cm, he is almost a full 10cm taller than every other Wallaby back, and except for English No.12 Henry Slade who is 191cm, he was also almost a full 10cm taller than the English backs as well.
Watching the clip, even with two players clambering onto him, one of whom is Slade, his torso and limbs are long enough to get the offload away.
His height allows him to stand in the tackle and free his right arm to put Andrew Kellaway into the space where Slade would’ve been defending.
There’s also a second element to the offloading s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁.
Rugby players are always trying to hit the deck fast once tackled to create a ruck, and therefore quick ball.
This creates a habit amongst defenders as well, as they endeavour to chop, go to ground and then bounce back to their feet to compete or roll out.
In league, hitting the deck could mean a slow play the ball and a well-set defence, not ideal.
Suaalii is entering contact very high out of habit, it wasn’t punished at the weekend, rather he was able to offload at will.
SBW perfected the art of offloading in the tackle. In time, JAS will find the best way to punch through contact, committing his defenders entirely, and handing off devastating offloads like the Kiwi.
26th minute – the in-out-and-away
Many people would put the next clip down to another miracle offload, however, if you look closely, it could just as easily have been a regular pass.
From a running perspective, and in the raw numbers as seen above, JAS had a pretty quiet night, but his best moment with ball in hand came with his first-ever try assist.
His speed off the mark is explosive and because he has such a large stride it allows him to wrong-foot defenders in the blink of an eye.
Here, Suaalii turns his hips inwards which forces replacement winger, English speedster Ollie Sleightholme, to jam in.
Then, all it takes is an old fashioned, yet seemingly calm, goosestep to put Sleightholme on his heels and for JAS to skip around him and attract the last defender, giving Tom Wright a clean run to the tryline.
His size and speed was enough to wrong foot and worry the English defence and they paid for their hesitation.
40th minute – the textbook kid
Joe Schmidt’s greatest compliment of the young league convert came in late October after revealing the youngster would be parachuted into the Wallabies squad.
Schmidt praised his application to re-learn and implement all things rugby union.
“One of the things that gave us real confidence in the hub was how rugby reactional he was around the collision area,” Schmidt said.
“In his application, he is very intentional about how he learns and what he delivers. So those things gave us a bit of confidence to where we’ve ended up now with him being selected in the Wallabies squad.”
This next clip may be a little less 𝓈ℯ𝓍y than a try-assisting flick pass or a giant leap to secure possession, but it speaks more to his future success as a rugby player than the other two.
The body shape, placement of the ball, and work on the ground JAS does post tackle shows he is indeed being “intentional” with every action.
A simple ball placement may seem trivial but a shallow placement there and stocky winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso would’ve gotten his hands on the ball and perhaps stopped the attack in its tracks.
This next clip is also an example of training turning into game day instincts.
In the 42nd minute JAS secured the ruck with textbook ruck defence positioning; eyes up, one leg over the ball, and in a strong low position. Take a picture kids!
Again, his action prevents Ollie Lawrence from turning over the ball and losing possession.
He hasn’t had to think about ball placement or securing a ruck for four years, but he’s doing it like a seasoned professional – these are the things that give him such a high ceiling.
45th-minute – Air Suaalii takes off
We’ve already seen how ridiculously high JAS can get with his vertical leaps, he gets hang time like he’s wearing anti-gravity boots.
This next moment showed that not only will opposition need to compete in the air, but they may also have to consider giving up the aerial fight altogether when he is on deck.
Again, JAS seems like he has all the time in the world, as he leaps high above Slade, when he deploys the deftest of tip-ons on to Wright, who then subsequently offloads to Noah Lolesio who hung the chip beautifully.
It’s the type of kick the Wallabies and Waratahs should’ve used with Mark Nawaqanitawase more often, and it’s a kick which Lolesio and Ben Donaldson have been trialling throughout the year, remember Lukhan Salakaia-Loto’s take against Wales?
74th minute – make-or-break
JAS had amazing moments in his maiden Test appearance in Wallaby gold, but this next one was not one of them.
A complete defensive misread could’ve seen England make a clean line break and potentially score to put the game beyond the Wallabies’ reach.
Suaalii can be seen coming from the outside in to jam on George Ford who is the last Englishman with the ball.
Fraser McReight, the player in the headgear, doesn’t drift hard enough and this forces Ikitau to also hold his drift.
Jamming in like this in a connected line speed drift defence is perilous, as it creates big holes and insufficient cover in the backfield.
Had the ball gone to Lawrence, who is the crash-ball runner outside Ford, it would likely have been Donaldson and perhaps halfback Tate McDermott who would’ve been tasked with tackling the bullocking Lawrence.
Had the ball gone out the back to No.23 Sleightholme, then the Wallabies would’ve been outnumbered in a three-on-two overlap.
Thankfully, Lawrence slightly overruns his line, and Ford makes a poor pass, which allows Kellaway to scoop up the ball and score, giving the Wallabies life in the final minutes of the match.
Had JAS stayed closer to Ikitau and shepherded Lawrence outwards then he and Kellaway along with Wright could have contained the attack.
This was the make-or-break moment.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii had a debut to remember at Twickenham. (Photo by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
Suaalii will now be firmly on opposition radars and the hype will be real, and why shouldn’t it be?
He’s a 21-year-old who has just helped his side win at Twickenham, a feat which some decorated Wallabies have never been able to achieve.
His game was good, like really good, but perhaps there was some hyperbole and some emotion in his matchday report cards.
Tackling at 50 per cent and making 1.1m per carry are stats which would have others being questioned.
However, another standout attribute of JAS is his self-awareness – he knows he didn’t have a perfect game, and admitted as much in post-match commentary with Stan Sport’s Justin Harrison.
The youth of Suaalii is his most exciting aspect, he has so much room to grow, meaning he will also physically mature into an awesome weapon for the Wallabies.
If he can work on his tackle-technique and defensive reads over the next three games leading into his first Super Rugby Pacific season, then there is truly no telling how high his ceiling could be.
He is a great addition to the Wallabies and Australian rugby – welcome to rugby, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
