Aussie abroad: Ben Tapuai

Ben Tapuai is another one of Australia’s favourite sons to have departed the homeland seeking conquests afar.

The former Queensland Reds and Western Force centre is now in his fourth season playing in the English Premiership. Two seasons in Bath preceded a move to Harlequins, where he is now in his second campaign with one more to come.

Back in 2011 Tapuai had a remarkable rookie season in Australia.

He was the starting No.12 for the Reds when they toppled the fancied Crusaders to win their maiden Super Rugby title. Five months later, Tapuai was running around in a gold jersey playing for his country.

Not a bad year for somebody who prior to that season had only three Super Rugby caps to his name.

His international debut came on an end-of-season tour match against Wales. Nobody hosts an international rugby match quite like Cardiff, as Tapuai discovered.

“I was overwhelmed with how big the international stage is,” he says.

“The singing of the anthem really echoed under the closed roof that day. The city just closes down and it’s a massive piss-up for the fans. It was pretty cool.”

Tapuai came off the bench on that December afternoon to help the Wallabies prevail in front of nearly 70,000 raucous spectators.

He would return to Cardiff 12 months later for another Aussie triumph. That outing would be Tapuai’s seventh for his country. It would also be his last.

At just 23, and with so much good rugby still ahead of him, Tapuai would never get another chance to don the Aussie green and gold. Years later he still cannot get his head around the repeated snubs by the national selectors over the ensuing years.

“I can’t really put where I went wrong,” he says.

“2013 was a Lions year. I didn’t make the original squad then a couple of injuries happened and I got called up. But I didn’t actually play.”

Tapuai also got the cold shoulder in 2014. He considered going abroad at that point, but the dream of playing for his country again still burned inside him.

“I had the opportunity to go overseas, but I wanted to stay for one last crack,” he explains.

“So I signed with the Reds for a year then the Force for a year. I didn’t want to leave with any regrets. I didn’t want to go overseas then think, ‘I wish that I had stayed’. Now I know that I stayed and gave it a crack and it just wasn’t in my favour to get picked.

“As you get older, you learn that that happens in rugby. Another door opened at Bath and I took that.”

Tapuai enjoyed a pair of strong seasons with the historic Somerset club. He might have stayed longer if not for the offer of a longer-term contract with the London-based Harlequins.

(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Harlequins)

“When you get into your 30s it’s pretty hard to say no to a three-year deal,” he says.

“So I had a chat to my wife. To be honest, we didn’t want to leave Bath. We got on so well with many of the guys and the staff but we kind of had to think about the long run, if you know what I mean.”

Tapuai’s deal with Quins will keep him in the English capital until the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.

The 31-year-old centre has now racked up over 70 caps between his two English clubs. He played a similar amount of Super Rugby games in his days with the Reds and Force. Tapuai highlights the contrasting conditions as contributing hugely to the different styles of play between Super Rugby and the English Premiership, especially during the winter months.

“The weather plays an important part over here and you’ve got to respect the weather,” he says.

“There’s a lot of kicking – a lot of kicking from nine, a lot of kicking from ten. It’s playing the territory game. You’ve got to get used to that because coming from Super Rugby you’re used to good weather so you can throw the ball around.

“It’s a whole different competition over here. When it’s raining sideways you can’t really throw the ball around. If you do, it’s kind of high risk, high reward.”

Tapuai has proved adaptable to his new environment. His slashing runs and sympathetic passing game work no matter what Mother Nature conjures up on a given day. The same goes in defence, where he remains a reliable, rock-like presence in midfield.

Tapuai appreciates the practicality of playing in the English Premiership. His former life in the Super Rugby realm involved long-haul flights, multi-week tours and sleeping in hotel rooms.

Not so in little England. So small is Blighty that its entire land space could fit more than seven times into Tapuai’s home state of Queensland.

“I like the travel here,” he says.

“I like how you take a bus ride here and there and everything happens on that day. After a game we’ll be on the bus again around 6pm, then maybe home at 9:30 or 10pm and you get to sleep in your own bed. That’s what I like about it – you’re in and out.

“It’s almost like (Queensland) club rugby in terms of the feel of it with the three o’clock kick-offs. Some teams even have a beer and a pizza in the changing rooms after the game.”

Unfortunately for Tapuai and Harlequins, he has been missing from the changing rooms in recent months after suffering a serious foot injury. He hopes to be back on the paddock in March if all goes well.

Quins have been battling the injury bug all season. It seems to have affected their results on the field with just three wins from eight games so far in the Premiership.

Away from the pitch, Tapuai is revelling in life in old London town. There are few dull moments living in a bustling city with over ten million residents.

“I’m loving it. You can’t get bored over here, can you?!” he says.

Tapuai will be 32 when his contract expires. He’ll still be young enough to play top-level rugby at that point, but it is unlikely to happen in Australia.

“I will probably finish my career here,” he says.

“I just think me and my wife are so happy here. She’s happy with work as well. If we do move over to Australia it’ll be another adjustment. The younger guys there would run around me, anyway!”

It was not so long ago that Tapuai was one of those younger guys. It seems like yesterday when he held his own against Sonny Bill Williams in the Super Rugby final, then parlayed his Reds form into a shot at international rugby.

Years later and now a veteran, Tapuai is clearly enjoying his latest chapter with this foray into foreign rugby. All up, it’s been a stellar career, and it is far from over.

Ben Tapuai’s CV
• Seven Wallabies caps
• 63 Queensland Reds caps
• 12 Western Force caps
• 45 Bath caps
• 27 Harlequins caps
• One Super Rugby title (2011)
• Most improved player: Queensland Reds (2011)

Also represented: Perth Spirit (NRC), Sunnybank (Queensland Premier Rugby), Australian Schoolboys (2007), Australia under-20s (2008), Barbarians vs Samoa (2015), Australian Barbarians vs Canada (2011).