“Make it Count” – Sione Tuipulotu on Scotland’s preparation for Six Nations decider with France

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As Scotland prepare to host France in a game which could decide the Six Nations Championship, the centre played down any lingering sense of injustice since Sam Skinner’s late disallowed try in Paris of 2023.

“Not really for me. That game's dead and gone to be honest. I couldn't even remember if it was two years ago or four years ago. That's how many times we've played this team. Obviously, we had the prep games against them before the World Cup as well.

“That game's dead and gone for me, and I understand how that game ended. But to be honest, if anything what I remember from that game is that in that last 20 minutes, we didn't press the button like we should have, and that game shouldn't have come down to the last play. We had a lot of possession in that last 20 minutes, and we were on top of France for large portions of that game that we needed to execute more on.

“Where our game has grown since then is that when we do get momentum, we've managed over the last two games to make it count.”

Despite Scotland having pushed France close on several occasions and a win in 2023’s World Cup warmups, France have been the better of Scotland five out of their last seven meetings. However, the Scotland skipper said that these meetings offer little indication of result beyond how the team’s styles match up.

“I always feel like past form, the only detail that it tells is maybe how two teams clash in terms of their styles,” he said.

“Maybe our styles clash in a way that makes for entertaining and close games, and that's the only thing that I take away from it.

“But I will say that we're further in our growth than we've ever been as a team, mentally as well.”

Tuipulotu also believes that the strong leading personalities that have stepped up during this campaign, on and off the pitch, has helped Scotland take important steps forward.

“The leaders that have stepped up during this campaign have taken this team on the road to where I think we can go. And we need to keep doing that and take the next step. That's why this opportunity that we've created for ourselves is such a massive one and one that we want to grab with two hands.”

He pointed to Scotland’s late recovery and surge in energy in their win over Wales in the last round as evidence of their mental development.

“If you watch that last 15 minutes of the Wales game compared to if you watched the last 15 minutes of some of the other games that we fell short, they look very different.

“And it's not necessarily tactically what we're doing, but it's the emotional drive and the will and want that I think jumps off the screen when I watch it. That's an important part of our growth that we've had to get to now.”

Tuipulotu argued that Scotland showed similar resilience in Rome despite their opening loss to Italy, particularly once the deteriorating weather conditions changed how the game was played.

“Even in the Italy game, once the rain hit, I think it's important to keep drawing on it. Once the rain hit and the weather hit, we won that period 15-6, so we showed willpower in that game as well. We just didn't make enough of the first 20 minutes.

“So, I think in all three of our games we've shown character and it's important that we show character tomorrow.”

He also played down suggestions that any club familiarity with French players – particularly Glasgow’s emphatic 28-21 comeback victory against Stade Toulousain – could give Scotland an advantage tomorrow.

“I wish we could, but I don’t think so.”

“I think Test rugby and club rugby are two different things. I think it would be foolish of me to think that because we beat them at club, we can beat them at Test or if we can take any advantage from there. So, I'm not deluded to that.”

“But there are certain things tactically that we can use that we used for Glasgow against Toulouse and that were successful for us when we played them. At the end of the day, they are the same. They're not different humans that play for Toulouse and that play for France — they're exactly the same people.

“We can't take necessarily that because we beat Toulouse, we'll beat France. I think that's stupid, but we can take tactical things and confidence from that game.”