FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Autumn Internationals - Scotland v Australia - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain - November 24, 2024 Australia's Joseph Suaalii arrives before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Wallabies back Joseph Suaalii said he would be fit to face the British & Irish Lions in July and August after a month-long layoff with a broken jaw.
The high profile signing from rugby league has had a disrupted first season in Super Rugby Pacific with injuries severely limiting his time on the pitch.
"My face was really big for a bit, I was wearing a face mask everywhere," he told reporters after meeting some real lions at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on Wednesday.
"I'll be fully fit. Obviously, had a toe injury, then my jaw and concussion as well. But you know, it's all part of the game.
"It's such an important time for myself and Australian rugby and I want to be playing, so obviously I was a little bit of a nerves but ... I had surgery maybe three weeks ago now and looking good going into the Lions."
Suaalii said he had lost nearly five kilograms due to the difficulties of eating with a broken jaw but had put it all back on again since.
"I've been eating heaps," he said. "Thanks to my mum and my family around me to help me stay on track."
The knee of his Wallabies teammate Andrew Kellaway's was the inadvertent cause of the broken jaw and the winger feared at one stage that he might be remembered as the man who ended Suaalii's chances of facing the Lions.
"Nobody wants to crash the Ferrari, that's not what anyone wants," Kellaway joked. "He looks alright, he's doing a lot of talking, which is a good sign."
Suaalii said he felt he had played enough rugby to compete at the highest level against the Lions, adding that he would be comfortable playing at fullback, on the wing or in the centres.
Australia's one warm-up test against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6 was definitely on his radar, Suaalii said, and he could not wait to tangle with the tourists.
"These are the biggest games of my life, I believe," he said.
"Some people play it once in your career, and it happens every 12 years."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Christian Schmollinger)
