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Tahu switches codes in dramatic U-turnMarch 20, 2007 - 8:24PMParramatta centre Timana Tahu on Tuesday night completed one of the great U-turns in sport when he announced his defection to rugby union. Tahu will link with the NSW Waratahs for the 2008 Super 14 competition after agreeing to a four-year deal with the Australian Rugby Union. His move comes exactly a month after the 26-year-old rubbished the game of rugby and ruled out a code switch. A veteran of 11 State of Origin matches for NSW and five Tests for Australia, Tahu said he would not even consider playing rugby as a last resort, claiming he had no interest in handling the ball only "two times in a game". "I like being competitive and I like to have the ball in my hands," Tahu said at the time. "That would probably be the most stressful thing - the game's close and you want to do something and you can't even get the ball because they're very structured. "Being a centre or winger, you touch the ball two times in a game and I don't really want to be doing that." Tahu even went as far as to say he would not bother holding talks with ARU officials, such was his disinterest in the 15-man-a-side game. He claimed his priority was to stay at Parramatta, and with Penrith and Cronulla also both reportedly interested in his services, a move to rugby appeared the furthest thing from Tahu's mind. "I don't know if I'd (even) talk to rugby," he said. "Probably by then I'll just sign up with an NRL club ... it wouldn't even be an option to go to union. "For me, it's happiness first, where you're more comfortable. "They've got heaps of money and they can blow any NRL club out of the water with any player they want but then it comes down to expectation. "I think that's too much pressure if you want to do that. You're going to have everyone watching you and you make one mistake, you're probably going to get pounded for it the rest of your career." All that appears to have changed now; Tahu becoming the first high-profile rugby league convert since Clinton Schifcofske's decision to join the Queensland Reds midway through last year. © 2007 AAP Brought to you by aap http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/...urn/2007/03/20/1174153060185.html |
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Wow this is a big turn around considering last month he ruled out a switch to Rugby Union and that he would not bother talking to ARU officials. Also he claimed his priority was to stay at Parramatta and going to Union wouldn't be an option and he would just sign up with an NRL club. |
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Eels say Tah-Tah to Tahu
Jamie Pandaram, Brad Walter and Rupert Guinness | March 21, 2007 Text messages from Lote Tuqiri helped convince Parramatta star Timana Tahu to scratch a four-year itch and switch codes rather than take up an option to extend his Eels contract for next season. Tahu, who is the first league international lured to rugby union since Tuqiri and Mat Rogers switched codes in 2001, yesterday stunned Parramatta by advising them he had signed a lucrative four-year deal with the ARU. The 26-year-old former NSW and Australian representative revealed he had been considering the move for years, and the interest increased last year as he struggled with injuries. He will play for the NSW Waratahs in next year's Super 14 tournament and hopes to become a dual international, with the ARU deal taking him up until after the 2011 World Cup. "It wasn't a tough decision," Tahu said last night. "Last year was when I talked about it with my family. My father came from a rugby union background … I've always had an interest in rugby. I felt this was the right time to switch over." Negotiations between Tahu and the ARU began "three or four weeks ago", the ARU's general manager of rugby operations, Pat Wilson, said. It's understood Tahu considered only the Waratahs franchise as his future club. Tahu said the prospect of playing alongside Tuqiri in rugby was a motivating factor in his decision, and he had talked to the code's highest-paid player in the past few days after his decision to re-sign with the ARU for another five years. "I talked to him a couple of times through text messages. For me personally I just can't wait to play alongside him," Tahu said. Last night Tuqiri said he was also looking forward to playing with Tahu. "It's great not only for Australian rugby, but the Waratahs," Tuqiri told the Herald on the eve of the Waratahs' departure for Auckland, where they play the Blues on Friday night. "He's got the potential to be a big hit in rugby, especially the way he has carved up defences at all levels in rugby league. He'll only add value to the Tahs and Australian rugby." Tahu's signing is a coup for the ARU and Waratahs, who lost Rogers to new NRL franchise the Titans this season and, until recently, looked set to watch Tuqiri follow him back to league with South Sydney. "It came as a bit of a surprise but I suppose there is always an opportunity with rugby for good outside backs. They're the ones they seem to target," Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald said. Source http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/n...ahu/2007/03/20/1174153064350.html |