NSW have their backs to the wall in Super Rugby, so it’s a happy coincidence they can finally unleash a combined four metre and 240 kilogram package of brotherly muscle on the Sharks at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
It’s the first time Sitaleki and Lopeti Timani will take the field together, and the Tongan-born siblings are aiming to shake up the South African visitors when they’re injected into the action in the must-win clash.
Sitaleki, 25, is a one-time Wallaby and 21-year-old Lopeti a former lower grade NRL player at Canterbury.
The brothers have never shared a dressing room before, but Lopeti’s former Bulldogs Toyota Cup coach, and more specifically Andy Patmore’s Ford Ka, have a fair idea of what it’ll be like.
“His brother turned up at training one day down at Sefton and there was no train line anywhere. I used to own a little three door Ford Ka, which is the tiniest car in the world, and I turned around to big Bobby, and I said, `Lopeti, do you want a lift?’ He said, `yeah, but you’ve got to bring my brother too’,” Patmore told AAP.
“They needed to go from Sefton back to Peakhurst where he was living, and I almost had to have the back hatch open to fit them both in.
“One was across the back and one was in the front, I reckon the car was scraping the ground the whole way.”
As a league player, Lopeti was as raw as they come and barely able to speak a word of English.
Patmore would have loved another year with the 200cm and 117kg giant, and says had he stayed in league, Lopeti would have developed into a wide-running second-rower in the Frank Pritchard mould.
However, at the Waratahs, he’s already three caps into a promising career at lock, and the resolution of visa issues have cleared him to return and link with his 203cm and 120kg brother Sitaleki at the top level.
Waratahs No.8 Wycliff Palu says the Timani boys don’t say much, except when Lopeti quips Sitaleki about his weight during line-out practice, but it’s obvious how much Saturday will mean.
“Their family would be pretty proud. They’ve come a long way,” he said.