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- By Darren Walton
- From: AAP
- November 25, 2009 9:19AM
He's okay now ... Australia's Wycliff Palu is carried of the field by stretcher after sustaining an injury against Scotland. Source: AP
YOU know your form stinks when your mother tells you so.
Just ask big Cliffy Palu, who has revealed how a rollicking from his mum Keta following his axing from Australia's Tri Nations squad this season triggered his stunning resurgence on the Wallabies's spring tour.
While the Wallabies have struggled for consistency on a tour of mixed fortunes and lost opportunities, Palu has been excellent throughout, the destructive No.8 clearly responding to a pep talk from the family matriarch.
"Getting dropped out of the 22 in the Tri Nations helped. I remember going back home and my mum got up me and told me to pull my finger out,'' Palu said. "I went back home for a feed - some talo, a bit of a Tongan feed - and she asked me what was going on.
"She kept asking me why I wasn't (in the team) and 'why are you playing like that?' and stuff like that.''
Finding it far easier answering to coach Robbie Deans, Palu says his mother - a former Tongan sprinting champion - definitely rules the roost in his family home, giving him no choice but to lift his game. "I think it's like that with all the island boys,'' he said.
"Not too much the dads, I think it's the mums that you've got to watch out for. If I was a bit younger she would have probably hit me or something like that, but I think I've grown out of that.''
But while he's grown into 194cm, 120kg one-man wrecking machine, Palu, at 27, is clearly still mummy's little boy. Keta was mortified to see her son stretchered off on a medicab with his neck in a brace during the second half of Australia's shock loss to Scotland last Saturday.
"I rang her and she was in tears after the game, so that wasn't too good,'' Palu said.
All's good now, though, with the 35-Test back-rower quickly nicknamed Lazarus after returning to training on Tuesday and declaring himself confident of being fit to tackle Wales in Saturday's tour-ending Test at Millennium Stadium.
"When I first did it, it was a kind of pain, a bit of burning in my neck and my right side went a bit numb,'' Palu said. "They just told me it was probably best that I lay down. I think it was a bit much lying on the stretcher and having the gas mask, but they were just doing their job. I'm feeling pretty good now. The neck's still a little bit stiff, but nothing too serious.''
Provided he gets through Thursday's contact session, Palu will back up for his fifth Test in as many weeks. Enjoying the best form of his career, with his work rate up and the handling errors down, Palu's inclusion would be a huge boost for the Wallabies.
"Especially because we've got a young side and since I've been here for a couple of years now, I think I had to step up. That was my challenge for this tour,'' he said. "Especially in my position, it was a position this year that a lot of guys had a go at and I think it was better for the team if someone made it their own.''
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225803547006
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