Scotland captain Tuipulotu relishing Springbok challenge on familiar ground
FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union – Autumn Internationals – Scotland v Argentina – Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain – November 16, 2025 Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu reacts REUTERS/Scott Heppell/File Photo
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July 10 : Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu is eager for the challenge of facing world champions South Africa at their Pretoria fortress, and is quietly confident his side can pull off a surprise win at a venue where he already has fresh memories of an upset victory.
Tuipulotu was part of a Glasgow Warriors side that stunned South Africa’s Bulls to win the final of the United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in 2024, with plenty of players in both the Scotland and Springbok camps from that 21-16 triumph.
Scotland have lost all seven previous tests in South Africa, where they have not played since 2014, and while Tuipulotu will not say publicly there is confidence his team will prevail, he is not talking down their chances either.
“I’d like to think maybe our confidence is a little bit more quiet, to keep it in the changing room,” Tuipulotu told reporters.
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“There’s no point about talking about anything like that before the game, because you’ve got to go out there and play the world champions in their backyard.
“Of course I’m confident in my group. I’d be stupid as a captain to sit up here and say, ‘I’m not confident in my group and we’re going to go there and lose’ before the game.
“But we’ll focus on ourselves. We know the challenge at hand and we’re just really excited for it, genuinely.”
Scotland claimed an excellent 47-38 victory in Argentina last weekend and Tuipulotu believes that is a further sign of the maturity of the side.
“I think we’re a much different team now,” he said. “I would like to think that we’ve kind of evolved into becoming the team that we want to become.
“We saw bits of that in the Six Nations and I was really proud of the performance last week away from home.”
He says games like this one are what rugby players live for, to test themselves in the most difficult of circumstances.
“This is why I started playing rugby when I was 12 years old, to be in these types of weeks, preparing with this type of group, with an opportunity to play the world champions in their backyard,” he said.
Source: Reuters
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