No Tahs for Tahu

While Timana Tahu was making his return to the NRL on Friday night, his former team the NSW Waratahs were demolishing the Lions in a Super 14 match at the Sydney Football Stadium.

But the dual international hadn’t set the timer on his IQ so he could rush home and keep an eye on how his ex-team-mates had fared.

“No, I think rugby now is in the past for me,” he said after Parramatta’s 18-12 season opening loss to St George Illawarra.

“This is my job, it’s my passion.”

The big centre had been warmly welcomed by the the 18,293 at Parramatta Stadium, and not so warmly by opposite centre Beau Scott as the pair niggled each other all night.

Tahu, who in the past had told the league world he’d never leave for “boring” rugby and then the union world he was staying there as well, felt completely at home.

“It was good to be back, good playing with my mates again, good to be back in the blue and gold,” he said.

“It was easy for me to slip into the culture when I decided to come back to rugby league.

“I got those nerves back, those good nerves, those butterflies in my guts which I thought I would never get back but I did get them and for me that’s the sign that I want to come back and play my best footy.”

The 29-year-old said the plan had been blow out the cobwebs early after two years largely spent sitting on the bench in the 15-man game.

“Getting the first run out of the way, that was the plan, getting in early, get some ball, get a run in, feel what the hits are like,” he said.

“I did get in early and it felt good to get hit hard.

“I thought I was going to be a target because I’d been away for two years and playing in the centres it’s a lot different than playing in rugby, you’re closer to the action when you’re playing 12 (union’s inside centre) whereas you’re out wide and you’ve got pressure put on you (in league).”

Another former Wallaby and Waratah, Lote Tuqiri, is likely to make his return to league after seven years in rugby when the Wests Tigers play Manly on Monday night.

“I’ll probably back him playing, he’s just one of those boys that wouldn’t want to sit back and watch, it’s just not like Lote,” Tahu said.

Tuqiri can expect a message of support from his fellow code-jumper.

“I’ll probably just say good luck but that’s about it,” Tahu said.

“There’s nothing much I need to tell him, he’s a veteran, he can hold his own.”

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© 2010 AAP