Sione Tuipulotu discusses Scotland captaincy

NICE, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 19: Sione Tuipuloto during a Scotland Rugby training session at the Stade Nicois Rugby Club, on September 19, 2023, in Nice, France. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The 27-year-old has explained what being asked to lead the national team meant: “I really didn’t expect it, but I feel like I’m ready for the job and over the last couple of years I’ve gathered some valuable experience with Glasgow and with Scotland. I’m ready for the responsibility,” the centre said.

“I’m so proud, and I know how much this will mean to my family back home, especially my gran. I haven’t told her yet, but I’m looking forward to telling her when the news comes out. I haven’t really told any of my family yet except my dad, just because I want it to be more of surprise for my family and also because my mum’s coming over and it’ll be her first game at Murrayfield, so I feel like the stars are kind of aligning for me and I’m really excited for it. It’ll be my son’s first game and also my mum’s first game at Murrayfield so it’s going to be special.”

Two recent Scotland captains, Finn Russell and Rory Darge, are named as vice-captains for this series and Tuipulotu hopes to gain knowledge from the experienced leaders around him, and share the load throughout the campaign.

“I’ve been inspired by the captains that I’ve played under since moving to Scotland, and I think all of them have been so different for me,” he explained.

“Playing under Finn and Darge at the last Six Nations, I gathered so much so much experience from that and to have them around is going to be really important. I’m going to lean on them so much. I believe this will be more of a group thing moving forward so we can all try and drive the team towards success.

“I suppose now I’ve just got to bring my style of leadership and pick up as many things as I can along the way. The chance to put my own spin on leadership for the country, the most important thing is that I just want to be part of a winning team. Now that I’m leading Scotland that’s my biggest objective.

“For me, I play the game really passionately from an emotional standpoint and it means heaps for me to play for Scotland. I think my style of leadership is going to be to play the best rugby I can first of all, but also, and I believe this is why I have been appointed captain, to get us emotionally pointed in the same direction.”

Another source of pride for Sione comes by way of his brother, Mosese, who has been called into the Scotland squad for the first time, having moved to Edinburgh over the summer.

“The most emotional phone call I’ve ever had was Gregor phoning me to tell me I’ll be Scotland captain, but when he phoned to say my brother would be included was a pretty close second,” he added. “Obviously you grow up with your brothers, you see everything they’ve been through to get to this point. We’re going to be sharing a training environment, and I really want to challenge him to be better along these four weeks.

“To be honest, it’s a fairytale to have my brother there in the squad and I’m captain. I just feel really blessed. It makes me really excited to see what we can achieve over the next four weeks, and to have my brother there possibly working towards having his debut cap, whether it’s this time around or next time or whatever, but to have him by my side with me captaining, it is a fairytale.

“He’s very similar to me. He’s the most competitive guy I’ve ever met, and I know if his number’s called upon, he will take it with both hands and he’ll play with his heart. To be honest, we always joke about this but my gran back home, her favourite’s always been Mosese! I think he was the naughtiest so he spent the most time hiding out at her house so my dad couldn’t get to him. I know my gran will be so proud of him and I’m really looking forward to getting to work with him.

“My gran always wakes up in the middle of the night and watches me and Mosese’s Glasgow and Edinburgh games, and my dad always jokes around because the next day, she always watches his games back but never the Glasgow games! Mosese’s the favourite, everyone knows it in the family. I can’t wait ‘til my gran finds out because I know how much it will mean to her.”

Two of the other four uncapped players called into the squad play alongside Sione at Glasgow Warriors, namely Tom Jordan and Alex Samuel. Jordan in particular is known well by our new captain, often standing next to each other in Glasgow’s backline.

“There are so many young players coming through now, especially the ones I see at Glasgow, and Tom’s very high up the list of them. I’m so proud of Tom’s journey, where he’s come from, obviously coming over and playing for Ayr with Pete Horne and now being a proven Glasgow player and trying to be a Test player. I’m so proud of him and if there’s one thing I can bet on, I can bet on Tom because I’ve seen how much work he puts in over at Glasgow and I know that will transfer well over to Scotland. I’m really excited for him and all the young players coming into Scotland camp.”

First up for Tuipulotu, a four-Test series at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, starting with Fiji. The 27-year-old is keen to start strong and continue on from there against South Africa, Portugal and Australia.

“They’re all massively important, and I think for this team the most important thing is that we start well against Fiji. I know there’s not as much of a tournament feel about it as a Six Nations or a World Cup, but each game poses its own challenge and we’ve got to get our heads around trying to win each and every one of them.”