Stephen Donald has praised All Blacks centre Quinn Tupaea\u2019s superb form for the Chiefs during their fine start to the Super Rugby Pacific season.<\/p>\n
After eight rounds of action in the famous southern hemisphere tournament, the Chiefs occupy third position in the standings \u2013 behind the Hurricanes and Blues \u2013 and notched an impressive 42-14 victory over the Waratahs in Hamilton on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tupaea<\/a> was one of the Chiefs<\/a>\u2018 star performers as he delivered an excellent attacking performance and crossed for two tries after gaining 51 metres from 12 runs which included one clean break and three defenders beaten.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old has been in great form since last year when he also shone for the men from Hamilton at Super Rugby level as well as the All Blacks<\/a> in the Test arena.<\/p>\n And former New Zealand fly-half Donald<\/a> believes the time Tupaea spent on the sidelines due to injury helped him to become an improved player.<\/p>\n Sidelined for the entire 2023 season<\/p>\n Tupaea was sidelined for the entire 2023 season due to a serious Anterior Cruciate Ligament sustained after an illegal clear-out from Wallabies lock Darcy Swain in a Bledisloe Cup Test in Melbourne in 2022.<\/p>\n Tupaea\u2019s injury meant he took no part in the Chiefs\u2019 2023 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> campaign and also ruled him out of the All Blacks\u2019 Rugby World Cup campaign in France where they finished as runners-up to arch rivals the Springboks that year.<\/p>\n \u201cI hate to go back to something we said a couple of weeks ago, but these guys are evolving age-wise and still their body allows it,\u201d Donald told The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then Quinn, you think about injury free Quinn hasn\u2019t had many years of just continuous footy.\u201d<\/p>\n The show\u2019s host Kirstie Stanway-Thorne then said that several players who suffer serious knee injuries tend to break down again but with Tupaea it\u2019s the opposite with him looking stronger than ever since he\u2019s returned to action.<\/p>\n Ex-All Black identifies the role which can make Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku \u2018an absolute lethal weapon\u2019 at Test level<\/a><\/p>\n Donald agreed and said Tupaea has come back stronger after that injury and feels that being sidelined for so long has given the player plenty of time to think about his game which has certainly helped him to improve.<\/p>\n