Given everything that had occurred in the previous hour or two, it made bizarrely perfect sense that Sione Tuipulotu’s grandmother would hand him the Hopetoun Cup trophy after beating the Wallabies at Murrayfield.
“She whispered in my ear and said, ‘we got them’,” Tuipulotu said post-game.
Sione Tuipulotu is presented with the Hopetoun Cup at Murrayfield by his grandmother Jaqueline Thomson.Credit: Getty Images
The Scotland captain’s answer came with a broad grin, and an even broader Australian accent. And it all came after a memorable afternoon at Murrayfield where Tuipulotu – and his 77-year-old grandmother – were in the middle of absolutely everything, much to the delight of an adoring Scottish crowd.
But first to re-cap. Born and raised in Melbourne, Tuipulotu played for the Junior Wallabies but couldn’t crack a regular spot for the Rebels in Super Rugby, and so he moved to Scotland to play.
The son of a Tongan-Australia father and a mother with Italian-Scottish heritage, Tuipulotu qualified as eligible for Scotland due to his maternal grandmother Jaqueline Thomson, who was born in Greenock in the Scottish lowlands but emigrated to Australia as a child and settled in Frankston.
The nuggety centre debuted for Scotland in 2021 and quickly became a fan favourite, and Thomson became something of a cult hero, too, often getting thanked on Scottish rugby social media after a big game by Tuipulotu.
The 27-year-old was made captain ahead of the November internationals, and last week, Thomson was flown to Scotland by a sponsor, for the first time in decades, as a surprise for Tuipulotu and his brother Mosese, who both play rugby in Scotland and are close to their gran.
Tuipulotu hadn’t seen her in years and after the reunion video did the rounds in Scotland, Thomson was given a rousing cheer when the video – and Thomson – were shown again on the Murrayfield screen on Sunday just before kickoff.
When her grandson later scored a try and pointed to her in the stand, the camera found the overwhelmed grandmother; this time shaking her head.
“It was super special,” Tuipulotu said. “I don’t really score many tries, to be honest. Not for Glasgow, not for Scotland. But that one was pretty special to score while my gran was here and knowing how much she also wanted to beat Australia.”
Sione Tuipulotu scores for Scotland.Credit: Getty Images
Divided loyalties have long been dealt with for Tuipulotu, but he appeared to set a physical, no-backward-step tone against Australia for his Scotland teammates. Early on he had a push-and-shove with Tom Wright, and Tuipulotu was heard to say on the ref’s mic “you forget I know who you are”.
“We know who you are too lad,” Wright said.
The microphone didn’t pick up a feisty episode later with big-money recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, when the Wallaby belted Tuipulotu with a chest tackle but immediately grabbed his injured arm. When play broke down, Tuipulotu came back over to Suaalii and exchanged words about who’d come off worse.
With insult added to his injury, an angry Suaalii then sought to scrap with Tuipulotu.
“I’ll see you next time”: Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Sione Tuipulotu trade words at Murrayfield.Credit: Getty Images
“I will see you next time,” Suaalii said, before departing and setting a potentially spicy Lions series soap opera next year.
Tuipulotu said: “I didn’t really know it was him that hit me. I don’t know how it looks on camera, but it felt humongous. And when I popped up, I was just kind of looking around at who it was and then I saw that he was on the ground, so I said something to him. And then he went off the pitch. That’s all I can really say about it.”
What did you say?
“I said, I hope you’re OK,” Tuipulotu said with a grin post-game.
Later Thomson was enlisted to give her grandson the Hopetoun Cup, the trophy contested between Australia and Scotland.
Asked afterwards if it all felt a bit strange seeing his grandma being on the big screen, cheered by 68,000 people and handing out trophies, Tuipulotu choked up.
“It does feel weird. But I feel really blessed because of this all happening,” he said.
“And not just for me. Before the match, I was a little bit emotional about the fact that her life’s just gone full circle. That she’s back here watching me play for Scotland and watching me captain Scotland. I’m just happy that she gets to have that moment.
“She moved over to Australia as a young girl and raised my mum with limited stuff. And now she gets to enjoy this, gets to sit in the stand and get some recognition. It makes me so happy.”
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