Publications
Partners
Sydney - Wallabies No 8 Wycliff Palu will not be holding back on the physical side of his game when he returns to action this weekend after 11 months on the sidelines.
The hulking loose forward missed most of last year with a knee ligament problem and was then laid low by a hamstring injury in pre-season but will finally get back on the park for the Waratahs against the Cheetahs in Sydney on Saturday.
"Early on it was pretty tough for me, I'd never had an injury like this which kept me out of training," he told Friday's Sydney Morning Herald.
"I'm looking forward to the game. I'm not overly excited to the point of wanting to take someone's head off but I'm happy to be back.
"I'm not taking anything for granted these days. I've missed a fair bit of rugby in my career through injury. I'm trying to just enjoy every game that I play in now."
The 28-year-old, who made his test debut in 2006 before going on to become one of the most feared physical presences at the back of the scrum, said he would have no hesitation about taking and putting in the big hits.
"You just forget about it once you're out there," he said. "And I think playing Super rugby, if you have any doubt in your mind, you're going to do worse to yourself. You're probably going to get injured with a bit of doubt in your mind."
Palu turned down lucrative overseas offers to sign a new two-year deal with the Wallabies and Waratahs last year, largely because of the lure playing in the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
Springbok Heinrich Brussow, another back row forward likely to feature at the World Cup, will also make his first start after a long time out injured at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.
The openside flanker, one of the best in world rugby at the breakdown, missed almost a year of rugby because of a knee injury and returned as a replacement in the Cheetahs' defeat to the Lions last week.
Although the Cheetahs have never won a Super Rugby match in Australia and remain winless after four rounds of the competition this season, the prospect of facing Brussow has focused minds at the Waratahs.
"You've got to be aware of staying on your feet when you're going into contact," coach Chris Hickey said. "If you go to ground too quickly, you bring a player like Brussow into the game.
"Getting our supports to our man early is also important to us. If we can do those two things well, you don't eliminate him, but you neutralise his impact on the game."
