Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh was forced to grit his teeth and clap his hands as Sione Tuipulotu accepted the Hopetoun Cup from his grandmother at Murrayfield on Monday (AEDT).
It was a beautiful moment for Tuipulotu, who was born and raised in Melbourne and scored a try as Scotland’s captain in the 27-13 win over the Wallabies in Edinburgh.
The 27-year-old centre represented the Junior Wallabies and Rebels but only played 19 Super Rugby games over three seasons.
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He left Australia to play in Japan in 2019 before joining the Glasgow Warriors in 2021.
Before beating the Wallabies he was asked about the emotions he felt preparing to play against his birth nation.
“I think if you asked me that question maybe three years ago or when I first left Australia, I had so much, I suppose, animosity or professional anger inside of me just because I felt like maybe my talent really wasn’t looked after in Australia,” Tuipulotu replied.
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“But to be honest now I feel like I am where I’m supposed to be, here in Scotland. And I feel like all those things that happened early in my career were meant to happen because now I’m sitting here talking to you guys in the position that I am.”
Wallabies halfback Nic White admitted before the game, “We let him get away” and accurately predicted Tuipulotu would have a point to prove.
Tuipulotu can represent Scotland due to his grandmother Jaqueline Thomson.
Thomson, 77, now lives in Melbourne but is from the town of Greenock on Scotland’s west coast.
Tuipulotu didn’t think Thomson would ever be able to see him play at Murrayfield due to her age and health.
“It was an amazing moment,” Tuipulotu said.
“When she handed over the cup she said, ‘You got ’em!’ I don’t really score many tries, so that one was pretty special to score while my grandma was here and knowing how much she also wanted to beat Australia.
“I feel really blessed just because of this all happening and not just for me. I’m a little bit emotional about the fact that her life’s just gone full circle and now she gets to sit in the stand and get some recognition. It makes me so happy.”
Scotland’s victory ended Australia’s Grand Slam dream after Joe Schmidt’s side had impressed in previous wins over England and Wales.
“The feeling throughout the week is we were pretty confident that we’re a better team than this Wallabies team,” Tuipulotu said.
“I’m not too sure if it’s an upset, or how the media views it, but we were very confident that we were going to be the better team today.
“It’s a good win, but I don’t think it’s the best win or anything. The way we themed the week is we didn’t really feel like they had played a defensive team like us, and we also didn’t feel like they had played an attacking team like us.
“We were very confident during the week. We knew they were going to come in with confidence as well, but we knew once we got into the game that we could make them feel pretty uncomfortable, with our defence especially.
“I think the scary thing for this group is that that’s probably just a six or seven out of 10 performance against a pretty good team.”