All Blacks centre Quinn Tupaea revealed he’s never spoken to Wallabies lock Darcy Swain in the three years since the Wallaby’s reckless tackle left the Kiwi with devastating knee injuries.
The moment came in the first Bledisloe Cup match of 2022 and left the 26-year-old centre, named on Monday in his first All Blacks squad since that with incident, with a ruptured medial cruciate ligament (MCL) and a partial tear of his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee.
After more than a year out, Tupaea struggled to regain form in 2024 but he stepped up his game this year as a member of the Chiefs team that made it through to the Super Rugby final.
“When the injury first happened, it was very tough mentally and physically, doing rehab and that,” Tupaea told the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday.
“When I got back playing, it was tough to find my form again. I struggled for that first year just with playing time and confidence in my knee.
Quinn Tupaea of the Chiefs celebrates his try during the round two Super Rugby Pacific match between Chiefs and Crusaders at FMG Stadium, on February 21, 2025, in Hamilton, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
“This year, I felt my body is where it needs to be and I felt fit and strong throughout the year and my confidence came back through playing well and getting good minutes for the Chiefs. I’m in a very good spot and very grateful.”
Asked if he had spoken to Swain since the 2022 incident, Tupaea replied that he had only played against him once since – and that no words were spoken between the two. They faced off this year in Super Rugby as the Chiefs beat Western Force 56-22.
Quinn Tupaea of the All Blacks is assisted from the field after sustaining a injury during The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between the Australia Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at Marvel Stadium on September 15, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“It’s been a long time, coming up to three years (and) I’m sort of past it now. I know he copped a lot of flak for it, I’m just hoping to move on now,” Tupaea said.
Swain told ESPN last year that he had reached out to the Kiwi in the aftermath of the incident, which saw the Australian labelled a grub by horrified All Blacks fans, and receive a six-week suspension.
“I sent him a WhatsApp straight away saying I know it’s nothing, it’s not going to mean anything, but I did regret what I did and I’m sorry. But you know, that’s between me and him, if he doesn’t want to… I’ll just leave it at that.”
Tupaea was thrilled to be named as one of the 33 players in the frame to face France in the three Test series, and the 14-Test player is one of six centres picked along with Anton Lienert-Brown, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Billy Proctor and Timoci Tavatavanawai
“It’s been pretty surreal … I was pretty hopeful that my name would get called but obviously there are guys in that midfield that have been in the team for a long time and were always going to get their name called,” Tupaea said.
“There was probably seven or eight of us going for five or six spots, so I didn’t know what was going to happen really.
“Getting named in the squad is awesome, but ultimately you want to be playing games. I’d love to be back in the black jersey, get some minutes and show what I can do on the international stage. That’s the goal in the meantime,” Tupaea said.