{"id":527932,"date":"2026-03-09T02:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527932\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T02:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:39:19","slug":"waratahs-issue-brutal-update-on-wallabies-star-joseph-aukuso-suaalii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527932\/","title":{"rendered":"Waratahs issue brutal update on Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Waratahs<\/a> have confirmed that Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii<\/a> will miss up to eight weeks after suffering a hamstring injury in the warm-up before Friday night\u2019s clash with the Hurricanes<\/a> at Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a major blow for Dan McKellar\u2019s Tahs.<\/p>\n

The cross-code star was withdrawn shortly before kick-off after picking up the issue during preparations for the Super Rugby fixture in Sydney, with coach McKellar handing youngster George Poolman<\/a> a debut in his place.<\/p>\n

Scans carried out the following day have now revealed the extent of the injury, with the centre now facing a six to eight week spell on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

The Waratahs statement reads: \u201cThe NSW Waratahs can confirm that Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up before Friday night\u2019s match against the Hurricanes at Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing results of a scan yesterday, the centre will now miss six to eight weeks of action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suaalii\u2019s withdrawal proved an ominous start to a difficult evening for the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

The Aussie side were comprehensively beaten 59-19 by a rampant Hurricanes outfit. The New Zealand<\/a> visitors ran in nine tries to three to extend a dominance in the fixture that stretches back more than a decade.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t all bad. Despite the heavy defeat, Wallabies winger Max Jorgensen<\/a> continued his prolific run of form with another try-scoring double, giving him three successive braces in the competition.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were powered by a second-half hat-trick from centre Billy Proctor<\/a>, with winger Bailyn Sullivan<\/a> also crossing twice.<\/p>\n

The Waratahs had begun the campaign strongly with consecutive bonus-point wins over the Queensland Reds<\/a> and Fijian Drua, but the loss brought them crashing back to earth and the injury to their biggest star certainly doesn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it\u2019s pretty hard,\u201d Suaalii said of his transition to rugby union. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn the little details of the game. People compare it but I do believe it\u2019s a whole different game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game speaks for itself,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to play in different countries \u2013 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, you know. In the last year and a half, I\u2019ve been able to experience all these different countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for my parents to come across as well, that\u2019s been a special, special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Waratahs have confirmed that Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will miss up to eight weeks after suffering a hamstring injury…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-527932","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\/527932","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=527932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}