Wallabies prop sent to Waratahs in historic deal as Jorgensen suffers another serious injury
By Iain Payten
Wallabies prop Pone Fa’amausili will line up for the Waratahs against the Brumbies on Saturday after a historic mid-season loan deal was struck with his club, the Melbourne Rebels.
However, a solution to help address the major injury crisis in the Waratahs forwards has been offset by more concerning news about rookie fullback Max Jorgensen, who suffered a serious hamstring injury playing club rugby at the weekend.
Jorgensen is awaiting results from scans, but he has already been ruled out of the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific season, and with an eight- to 10-week recovery timeline, looks likely to be out of contention for the Wallabies’ Tests in July as well.
It is the fourth serious injury in two seasons for Jorgensen, after knee, ankle and shoulder problems last year, and raises serious questions about the management of the talented 19-year-old, who only recently re-signed with Australian rugby.
Fa’amausili joined the Waratahs on Monday after the franchise sent an SOS for more props, following an injury crisis in the front row that has seen five of NSW’s seven contracted props ruled out for the season.
The 130kg, 196cm tight-head prop, who has seven caps for the Wallabies, will play for the Waratahs on a “week-to-week” basis, as will Argentinian Enrique Pieretto, who was also secured on a loan deal with Scottish club Glasgow.
The 29-year-old prop has 23 caps for the Pumas and, like Fa’amausili, played at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
“Both Pone and Enrique give us experience and size in the crucial prop position where we have been hit by significant injury numbers,” Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said in a statement.
The mid-season loan deal for the two props is not unprecedented after Rebels prop Sef Faagaase joined the Reds during COVID in 2021, when rules were tweaked to account for the restrictions of player bubbles.
Pone Fa’amausili trains with the Waratahs.Credit: Waratahs Media
But it is still new ground for the game, with Rugby Australia – which owns both the Rebels and the Waratahs – having had a significant role in arranging the loan deal.
The Waratahs approached the Rebels and Rugby Australia two weeks ago to ask about the possibility of a loan deal for Fa’amausili after Tom Ross joined fellow contracted props Angus Bell, Tom Lambert, Dan Botha and Archer Holz on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
The Waratahs had club props on the bench for the past two weeks and have asked Harry Johnson-Holmes and Hayden Thompson-Stringer to play big minutes.
Pone Fa’aumasili charges forward against the All Blacks in Dunedin in 2023.Credit: AP
Fa’amausili was enthusiastic about the loan given he has not played a minute for the Rebels this season, having fallen down the pecking order following the arrival of Taniela Tupou.
Though he played 14 games for the Rebels last year, started for the Wallabies in a Bledisloe Cup clash in Dunedin and came off the bench in two World Cup games, Fa’amausili has drifted out of favour this season in Melbourne, with Tupou, Sam Talakai and Cobous Elloff preferred by Kevin Foote.
He has had to make do playing club rugby in Sydney and Brisbane.
Rugby Australia high-performance boss Peter Horne played a central role in negotiating the loan, which also had to be approved by tournament organisers SANZAAR.
“Pone has been a Test-level Australian prop, and due to the strong depth at the Rebels in that position, he has not played this year,” Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said. “The Waratahs have a clear requirement due to extensive injuries in the front row. A loan is a pragmatic and sensible solution for all parties.”
According to informed sources, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, the Rebels were cautiously supportive of the move of Fa’amausili to the Waratahs. They will be able to recall him at their discretion.
If the Rebels want to select Fa’amausili due to an injury problem or a form issue, they can call him back immediately. In theory that could see Fa’amausili train all week with the Waratahs and fly back to Melbourne on a Friday afternoon to cover a late injury, but in reality, any recall would be at the start of the week or not at all given coaches like to prepare a team for the whole week.
Specific ground rules were not written down around a cut-off day for a recall, or around the secrecy of IP or desired training loads, and instead clubs will be trusted to operate respectfully, according to informed sources.
Such rules may need to evolve,however, particularly if Rugby Australia looks to incorporate more loan deals in the future under their high-performance alignment strategy, which would eventually mean all players are centrally contracted by RA.
Meanwhile, the Reds and Rugby Australia are celebrating the retention of star centre Hunter Paisami for two years. Reports emerged last week about Paisami being set to sign with Exeter in the English Premiership, but the 24-Test Wallabies centre elected to stay in Australian rugby through to 2026.
Paisami missed the Rugby World Cup last year with injury.
“A major goal is to pull on that gold jersey again,” he said in a statement. “That starts here by playing my best footy for the Reds and hopefully the opportunity to play at the next level comes from that.”
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