He will be one of the Wallabies' key weapons at the Rugby World Cup, but Tatafu Polota-Nau had to battle three years of severe pain to get to where he is.

He couldn't scrummage properly, every bit of contact with his lower right leg felt excruciating.

Yet he has still come to be regarded as one of the country's two best hookers and will form an intimidating partnership with in-form Stephen Moore in New Zealand next year.

Polota-Nau was due to play his first Test of the year from the bench in Florence on Saturday (0100 Sunday AEDT) and, barring injury, will be there again when Australia play France in Paris next weekend.

It's been a tough road for the popular NSW Waratahs No.2.

"I just started to impinge it by smashing it against my foot. There was a bone spur on my shin bone and it just started to aggravate during the season," he said.

"Obviously we have medical tests to measure our ankle movement.

"I just couldn't push it through a normal ankle range.

"As the Super 14 progressed it sort of got a bit tough waking up in the morning with a bit of pain, but I've obviously got to put what's important for the team first so I put the pain aside and just battled through with it."

The 25-year-old had surgery in July and originally missed the Wallabies' plane to Hong Kong and Europe as his recovery took longer than expected.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans didn't need much of an excuse to call him in when the hookers on tour suffered minor niggles and the Australian scrum was pulverised by Wales.

"(I was on) crutches but started to walk after a few weeks which was good," Polota-Nau said.

"The most important thing was getting the range back and, I'll tell you what, it feels great because I couldn't squat for at least three years.

"Not just weightlifting, even just getting low in the scrums and just body contact.

"There's usually pain waking up but no more once I start walking. It's great."

Also over a shoulder problem, the 113kg wrecking ball wasn't backward in keeping Deans up to date with where his recovery was at.

"The start of our Waratahs pre-season I was ready to go and obviously I kept in touch with the medical staff and also the coaching staff to make sure that they had it in the back of their mind that I was ready to go," he said.

Once in Europe, he finally got on the field from the bench in the ill-fated outing against Munster in Limerick.

Now in Italy, the afro that dominates his new look is being tested out in one of the world's most fashion conscious societies.

"I don't have any fashion sense at all," he said.

"I was pretty impressed as always coming to Italy, just the way they suit up and pride themselves on it.

"They look amazing, I wish I had a body like that."

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