{"id":480748,"date":"2026-02-15T02:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480748\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T02:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:36:09","slug":"waratahs-brawler-opens-up-on-infamous-training-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480748\/","title":{"rendered":"Waratahs brawler opens up on infamous training fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTraining and games [is] a separate thing but for me, definitely playing with that edge and that physicality and that aggression – but without going over – is a strength of mine,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery day I\u2019m trying to build on that, and game by game I\u2019m hoping to get better at that.\u201c<\/p>\n

Rivals have also duly leaned into trying to bait<\/a> the occasionally hot-headed Amatosero to stepping over the line, however, and he expects it will continue in the wake of the Scott-Young incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, that\u2019s how it\u2019s been my entire footy career. Again, just because I\u2019ve been that physical sort of player that most teams come looking for that anyway, regardless of what\u2019s happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Angus<\/p>\n

Angus Scott-Young joined the Waratahs in December.Credit: Instagram\/Waratahs<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing\u2019s really changed, really. For as long as I\u2019ve been playing, it\u2019s been like that. So it\u2019s getting easier for me.\u201c<\/p>\n

The sanctions imposed on Amatosero from RA and the Waratahs include several education and counselling courses, and the big lock said the work \u201cbettered me as a person\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prevented from being at the Waratahs\u2019 facility, Amatosero and trained on his own at 6am at Snape Park in Maroubra – with a Waratahs physio given the thankless task of holding a tackle shield – and at a public gym in Bondi Junction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so tough [being offsite],\u201d he said. \u201cMy biggest thing is the boys and the team, and being away from them, and sort of seeing how initially how it affected the team, really hurt. But the boys moved on quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of people helping. I spoke to a lot of different people, but just mainly \u201cBJ\u201d (general manager Barrie-Jon Mather) and talking a lot with Dan (McKellar), just guiding me through the next few weeks, because I didn\u2019t really know what they were going to look like as far a playing point of view. But they put me at ease and I got to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amatosero is chasing a debut for the Wallabies this year, and says playing at the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year is the dream. The immediate focus is playing with consistency for the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

While Tahs officials may instinctively wince at his word choices – given the last month – Amatosero believes the depth and competition for spots at the Waratahs can help them turn a corner and succeed in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining sessions have become very competitive because we\u2019re all trying to fight for that jersey, and it could be anyone named on the weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how tired, no matter how buggered you are, you\u2019re fighting for that mate next to you and I think it\u2019s starting to show.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Sydney-born and raised, you can feel the frustration with a lot of the fan base and the community and I think everyone is getting behind us and feeling what we\u2019re feeling about. We\u2019ve got something good this year and this season and yeah, it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTraining and games [is] a separate thing but for me, definitely playing with that edge and that physicality…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-480748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}