By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Wycliff Palu returned to the Wallabies squad after a month's rest this week, refreshed and ready to add his characteristic physicality to the Australia pack for back-to-back tests against New Zealand over the next three weeks.
Now 33, the number eight will have to get used to having his workload managed as he enters a 10th season of international rugby, a test career that has been frequently interrupted by injury and earned him only 54 caps.
"Oh, just old man problems," Palu grinned on Friday when asked why he had been rested for wins over South Africa and Argentina that set up next week's Rugby Championship decider against the All Blacks in Sydney.
"I'm pretty lucky to get the opportunity to add to the group, I think the boys have been doing pretty good."
It was a typically self-deprecating comment from a man whose powerful 115kg frame reflects his Tongan heritage but inaccurate in as much Palu's rest was planned and all about getting him right for some tough contests that lie ahead.
Next week's match against the All Blacks will be his 12th and having won only two and drawn a couple more of those contests, Palu is under no illusions about the challenge that lies ahead.
"I think they probably lift for us, and they're the world champs and for us to beat them we've got to go to another level, you know," he said. "Hopefully come next week we can do that."
Coach Michael Cheika likes big men to give his team early "go forward" with the ball, establish a presence at the breakdown and build a platform from which his backs can attack.
Unfortunately for the Wallabies coach, a former number eight himself, Australia has far more skillful backs than it does hulking forwards.
That is why Palu and lock Kane Douglas, who became newly eligible for Australia on Friday, were so important to Cheika at the 2014 Super Rugby champion New South Wales Waratahs side.
Cheika got Palu back into the best form of his career at the Waratahs and is clearly hoping to ease him through the early season as he looks ahead to a World Cup where England, Wales and Fiji loom in the opening round.
Quietly spoken, Palu prefers to express himself through his actions on the field but might have been talking about himself at his best when asked about the return of Douglas to the Wallabies fold.
"It's good, I think he added a lot to us at the Tahs last year, so I think he'll add a lot to the team," Palu added.
"His physicality and his workrate, it's probably something that the crowd won't see a lot of, but when you play alongside him, you know how much he brings to the squad." (Editing by Greg Stutchbury)