It's been awhile since we heard from Lote
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Too long, some might say.
I've learnt my lesson and moved on, says Tuqiri
December 4, 2007
The star player is looking forward, not back, writes Rupert Guinness.
Wallabies winger Lote Tuqiri has no regrets about the 2007 season, saying he learnt from a year when he made headlines as much for his off-field performances as his playing.
Tuqiri told the Herald yesterday he is over the disappointment of NSW finishing 13th in the Super 14 and the Wallabies' quarter-final exit from the World Cup. And he has also moved on from the slip-ups off the field. One earned him suspension for two Tests after missing a medical and recovery session, and the other landed him with a midnight curfew for the World Cup.
Tuqiri intends showing he has learnt from his mistakes in 2007, something that should please Australia rugby legend Nicholas Shehadie who called for greater player discipline in a letter to the Herald yesterday.
Tuqiri did not wish to comment on Shehadie's letter, prompted by the fining last week of Western Force players Scott Fava and Richard Brown for their mistreatment of quokkas during a team camp at Rottnest Island, but which also referred to "the recent off-field behaviour of some Wallabies".
"You don't like to have any regrets," Tuqiri says. "It wasn't the best year for a lot of people. I am quite thankful for 2007. I have learned a lot from last year. You have to learn from things. And from that sense I don't regret 2007.
"We didn't play that well on the field. And off the field it wasn't that good. But I have put all that behind me. It will be good to just get on with the 2008 season."
Tuqiri, who recently returned from a holiday in Fiji, says the pain of losing the World Cup quarter-final to England in Marseilles has long gone - replaced by his ambition to help NSW finally win the Super 14.
"That quarter-final, I haven't really thought about it," he says. "They played better than us on the day. We didn't play the way we wanted to. That's life, mate. At the moment, I am just looking forward to Super 14."
Tuqiri agrees with the recent views of Wallabies and Waratahs teammate Rocky Elsom, that NSW must learn to close out games. "He is probably right," Tuqiri says. "There were a lot of games where we were in there with a chance."[EDIT: Rocky is a genius]
However, he is confident NSW can again resemble the force they were in 2005 when they were Super runners-up and in 2006 when they made the semi-finals. Boosting Tuqiri's faith is the arrival of several new faces in the NSW playing and coaching ranks, as well as having the Wallabies members back training earlier than usual because there is no end-of-year tour.
He even welcomes the prospect of speedster winger Lachlan Turner beating his 40-metre record of 4.84seconds, which firmed when the 20-year-old clocked 4.88s a week after the Australian Rugby Championship. "With his physical development as a player, I think he will only get quicker," Tuqiri says. "He is going to be one to watch. He had a great year in his first year in Super 14. He can only go up."
But Tuqiri says for the NSW to succeed there must be communication between players and coaches. "I just hope everyone pulls in the same direction," he says. "We need to get that across at the start of the year. There will be times when you'll be down with selection and everything else. I know it is hard but you have to ask the team, and ask yourself, and think of the team first.
"You have to have open lines of communication. Obviously, [it must be] within the playing contingent, but also between staff and players and vice versa about how and why selections are going."
Tuqiri also hopes the new experimental law variations are introduced in next year's Super 14, although he suspects the two-day SANZAR conference in Sydney, starting today, will not pass them.
Australia will back the proposal, but Tuqiri fears South Africa and New Zealand will not because they will claim Australia will be unfairly advantaged as the rules had a run in the ARC.
"We are one of the only countries to have tested them … everyone else will want a level playing field," Tuqiri says.
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Originally Posted by fulvio sammut
Steady Eddie could have scored that try 
