Sione Tuipulotu explains what Scotland must do ‘to get over the hump’, the ‘rugby game that hurt the most’ and the Gregor Townsend call that left him ‘nervous’
Sione Tuipulotu after Scotland's recent loss to Ireland and, inset, featuring for Glasgow in their defeat to Toulon
Sione Tuipulotu has highlighted the main thing that Scotland must fix before their Rugby World Cup 2027 campaign in Australia.
The recent Six Nations was another frustrating example of them being good but not being consistently good enough in the international circuit.
Having deflatingly lost to Italy in the opening round last February, the Scots reeled off wins over England, Wales and France to give themselves a shot at winning the title for the first time since 1999 and clinching a first Triple Crown since 1990.
However, after recovering from a slow start in Dublin, coming back from 19-7 down to only trail by 26-21 with less than 20 minutes remaining, they were overwhelmed down the finishing straight and lost 43-21.
“There is a few strides you need to take…”
It left Gregor Townsend’s side facing accusations of ‘same old Scotland’, a team that is full of promise that can’t ultimately deliver, and Tuipulotu has now identified what they are lacking and the strides that need to be taken if they are to be a better threat in Australia next year.
Appearing on the Behind the Ruck podcast during a break from Glasgow Warriors’ United Rugby Championship match this Saturday against the Stormers in Cape Town, the Scotland skipper was asked to put his finger on what Scotland were missing.
“Experience,” he said, without hesitation. “We have been on an upward trajectory with Scotland for a while now. But in order to get over the hump there is a few strides you need to take.
“Consistency is definitely one of them, and I honestly feel like it starts in club rugby. We are really in a lucky environment with Glasgow, the ship that Franco (Smith) runs, but the more players we can have in winning environments.
“Look at Finn (Russell) now at Bath, look at Blair (Kinghorn) now at Toulouse, these are some of our best players now that are constantly winning, and in tournament rugby you just can’t afford to lose.
“Consistency is the most important thing, so the more used to being a winner you are and knowing what being a winner takes, I feel like you come into the Test environment and all those boys that have come from different winning environments can be cohesive then, you bring the culture of winning back.
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“You look, for example, at Ireland, they have had Leinster now for years, who have that consistency of winning year in year out. I know they have had their challenges in the Champions Cup the last couple of years, but they have been to finals, they have been to semi-finals, they have won Champions Cups, they have won URC last year and that consistency of being there, being there, being there I feel like will be beneficial for our consistency.”
Glasgow were 2024 URC champions and are in the hunt for this season’s title, but the huge hopes they had of making an Investec Champions Cup breakthrough went up in smoke this month when eliminated in the quarter-finals at home to Toulon. It’s the sort of up and down that Tuipulotu is used to at Test level.
Having run the All Blacks close at Murrayfield during the Autumn Nations Series, Scotland suffered a second-half collapse when losing to Argentina and that inconsistency re-emerged in their Six Nations opener in Rome where the on-pitch puddles and a fiery Italian performance proved too much for Tuipulotu and co to deal with. The wound cut deep.
“I can’t remember a rugby game that hurt as much as flying back from Italy for me personally,” admitted the skipper. “Just because we had trained so well leading up to that game, I was so confident heading over there, and credit to Italy genuinely, people found out later in the tournament that that wasn’t just a one-off for them.
“They have made massive progress as well. The tournament gave it context, that first game, how tough Italy are now. But I just remember the feeling of flying back on the plane. I had my concerns about how we were going to bounce back, but once I woke up the next morning and we got around some of the leaders, the way I posed it to the team was that we had to (bounce back).
“There were a lot of things flying around, the media for one, even in our environment that we couldn’t control and that is how I posed it to the team, I felt like in a good team the changing room is really tight and it doesn’t matter what is happening outside the changing room, you can find a way to bounce back and that is what we did.
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“We played an England team that was 12 straight (wins) leading into the second game. That is a massive fixture for Scotland, so the emotion solved itself in getting back up and fighting, but we still have to go back out there and win. To find the performance that we found, I was just so proud to be a captain of a side like that that was resilient and just to show our identity.
“We had lost our first game, but the tournament wasn’t done for us at that point. I was so proud, and then to kick on from that. We gained confidence from that England game, we had beaten a 12 straight team that a lot of people were predicting to win the Six Nations. And then went to Wales and had a scare there, but we still dug it out.
“Then we played France in a crazy game. I am proud most of that performance, probably more than the England performance, because of the challenge of France and what was at stake on that day.
“We felt like our style could pose a problem for them and that was what I was most proud of, that we went out there and played our style. We didn’t go out and play hesitant or kicked threes or things like that.
“We just kept our foot on the accelerator, and we had a really good performance. We finished off with a bit more disappointing one from us with everything that was on the line in Ireland.
“We didn’t play to our potential, but Ireland really rose to the occasion, which is a credit to them. Playing in Dublin, playing for the Triple Crown, it wasn’t something we were able to achieve and something we are going to have to figure out for the World Cup, definitely.”
It was October 2024 when Tuipulotu became Scotland’s captain. It was a promotion he didn’t see coming, and a call at the time from Townsend asking for a meeting left him sweating and fearing the worst.
“I was at training and he said, ‘Do you mind coming to see me?’ Like, he doesn’t come to our trainings (at Glasgow), he said he’d be in the café at this time, do you mind coming to see me?
“I’m asking some of the other boys, are you guys catching up with Gregor today and they’re like no and I’m thinking something has caught up from the past. I’m nervous straightaway – and when he did ask me to be captain, I was so taken away.
“I knew the job I was doing at Glasgow, I was already in a leadership role, but I had never put a title on it. I have been getting told I was a good leader since I was at school. Whenever I was in trouble, the principals would be. ‘You don’t understand, the kids follow you’. And I would be like in my head, ‘I didn’t ask for that’.
“It probably took me all the way coming to Scotland to realise that I am good at that stuff, to own it and not to be too scared to own it. Maybe that was what it was before; I never wanted to put a title like ‘captain’ or something like that, because it might have come with extra pressure or whatever.
“I realised that pressure of being captain made me play better, because it meant more to me to lead boys into a contact sport and everything like that, so sitting down then with Gregor and him telling me why he’d like me to be the national captain, I just felt that was a big change for me as a man, just knowing this is my responsibility now and I have loved it over the last two years.
“Everything that comes with being a captain, even the bad times, losing to Italy or after Argentina in the autumn. I don’t mind getting up there and saying what I feel in that moment and being honest.
“I feel like when you are winning, it is easy to be captain. I can get up there, and everyone gives you kisses, you’re a hero, and you’re kissing people’s babies, stuff like that. But when you lose, that’s the time I feel you get to show who you are and why you were made as captain. I feel like I have really enjoyed it.”