Would absolutely take Tupouniua over Seyfarth. Tupouniua had his first full year back from a major injury last season and he spent time playing at centre, second row and middle. That’s why his numbers are down (he was also starting pre-injury).
You say that these are things that can be taken out of his game but it’s getting worse, not better. That’s the biggest issue.
His defense is so poor, especially when he constantly shoots out of the line and can’t recover sideways because of his poor lateral movement. It’s one thing peeling or falling off a tackle, but completely missing the player and creating overlaps is another. He grabs at players rather than hitting with his shoulder.
There’s been a bunch of instances where he’s rushed out of the line resulting in a 4 on 3 and the opposition scores in the corner. Unfortunately it’s the winger that gets blamed, but it’s actually the fault of the second rower rushing out of the line creating the overlap, which the half, centre and winger have to then react and rush in.
I think the problem is that most fans see his passion and effort and want to believe or convince themselves that he can improve, but he’s shown no sign of improvement when it comes to defense, decision making and discipline.
I seriously hope he miraculously turns it around this off-season, otherwise we are in for a long season.
