1
'I have never won anything. It was back in school the last time'
By PA
Sione Tuipulotu is inspired by the regular reminders of Glasgow Warriors’ 2015 Pro12 triumph as this season promises a thrilling finale.
Glasgow beat Munster 31-13 in the Grand Final in Belfast eight years ago and there are photos of that achievement around their Scotstoun ground, while the Scotland centre’s team-mates such as Duncan Weir, Ryan Wilson and Fraser Brown, as well as assistant coach Peter Horne, played that day at the Kingspan Stadium.
Warriors beat Scarlets 35-17 in Llanelli on Saturday to reach the Challenge Cup final for the first time and they will face Toulon in Dublin on May 19.
Tuipulotu is “stoked to be in our first European final” but is focused on Saturday’s United Rugby Championship play-off tie against Munster.
The 26-year-old, who joined Glasgow from Eastern Suburbs in 2021, said: “I have never won anything. It was back in school the last time I won anything.
“It is quite special for me to be at a club which has recently won.
“You walk past guys in the changing room like Ryan Wilson who has won this tournament before.
“There is a sense of belief. We have guys in this team who have won this before and I didn’t have that at other clubs so we are rubbing shoulders with guys who have won it and we want to create our own history.
“Inside Scotstoun there are pictures everywhere of that Championship-winning team.
“I just want to be part of a winning team and there are a lot of boys who are really motivated to build towards that.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself and think we are at the start of the final. We are in the last eight and earned ourselves a home game and it is about taking advantage of that.
“There is a long way to go before then and it starts this weekend with Munster.
“We haven’t won anything yet. The main focus is beating Munster on our home ground.”
Trending on RugbyPass
2
The impact Townsend will have on Lions despite missing Farrell's team
3
Leicester lose out on first-choice Michael Cheika replacement
4
Aaron Smith and ‘three or four other All Blacks’ keen to play for AUNZ
5
Latest Comments
Watching the last few rounds of the PWR, my feeling was that the opposition is a factor in selection. Kildunne does have weaknesses in her positioning for kicks, and was caught out of position on long kicks several times - there aren’t that many female kickers who can put up a long ball with a lot of accuracy, and I don’t think she’s used to facing them.
Sing is much more in the mould of a traditional fullback from the men’s game, both in terms of fielding kicks and sending them back, and I can see a role for her if England are facing a strong team with a powerful kicking game. She doesn’t offer the attacking threat that Kildunne does, but when you can also field Dow and Breach, you don’t necessarily need a running threat from all of your back three.
Go to commentsI think when you think of expanding the game you need to look at countries like Spain.
Their improvement in 7s and 15s has been significant. If you can breakthrough in Spain then that is a seismic moment for world rugby. But will world rugby see this? Or continue with its money making agenda for Tier1s via ‘Nations Cups’ and it’s Mickey Mouse ‘World Cup’ which has been hithero a boasting rights tournament for a couple of teams.
Go to comments