‘My confidence was really shot’: Kailea rebuilds as Wallabies prop stocks tested

Isaac Kailea could not have timed his return to form any better.

On Friday night, the Waratahs forward scored a try in the win over Moana Pasifika and, just hours later, his friend and fellow loose-head prop Angus Bell injured his left ankle playing for Ulster in Ireland, leaving the Wallabies potentially light on in a key position ahead of July’s Tests.

Bell is still awaiting the results of scans to work out the seriousness of the injury, which came after he was tackled and the studs on his left boot got caught on Ulster’s artificial field. Kailea got in touch with his former teammate as soon as he heard about the injury, but is also ready to be the next man up if needed.

The former Melbourne Rebels prop has played eight times for Australia, with his last Test against New Zealand two years ago. Last season, he struggled to get picked for the Waratahs and was dropped to play Shute Shield for Randwick.

Kailea spoke to Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt in January and got simple feedback on what he needed to do to return to Test rugby: play for the Waratahs.

“I spoke to him [Schmidt] at that camp at the start of the year and I think the main thing was just play,” Kailea said. “He said, ‘We know what you can do, and you’ve just got to show it, so whatever you need to do to get on the field and show what you can do, then it’s a lot easier to pick you’.”

Kailea has heeded Schmidt’s advice, scoring two tries in six games for the Waratahs this season.

Last year, things were very different, and he had to rebuild his game and his confidence completely.

“I probably got too comfortable,” he said. “I thought coming into a new team with boys I’m familiar with, I’ll just sort of cruise in and find my feet again. But I probably didn’t build that trust with the coaching staff and the other players.

“My own confidence was really shot through … last year. I was overthinking things, which I still do, but definitely not to the limit that I was doing last year.”

A strong ally in rebuilding that confidence was former teammate and close friend Taniela Tupou who was open about his own doubts in rugby while playing for the Waratahs last year.

“I got to know him [Tupou] really well, and he always said the same thing, ‘You’ve played at that level, you know how good you can be’,” Kailea said.

“From everyone around me at the Waratahs, there was never really any extra pressure to make it back, but also if you’re playing at that level, you know, something good might happen.”

The Waratahs set piece is now the lowest-ranked in Super Rugby, winning just 87 per cent of scrums. Kailea started his career as a back-rower before moving into the front row, and knows that he must continue to develop his work at the scrum and learn to love a part of the job he previously endured.

“When it comes to rugby, I like that ball-carrying aspect, tackling and all that physicality, and I think I was more thinking with scrums, just get through it and then I get to carry the ball,” Kailea said.

“Whereas now it’s like, let me affect the game with my hooker and with my tight-head, and really put it on teams, put opposition tight-heads under pressure in the scrum and not just sort of get in and get out … I still think I’ve got a bit of ways to go around my scrum.”

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