Greenock Granny visit gave authenticity to Sione Tuipulotu story

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu insisted he is “all in” for the British and Irish Lions as he spoke of feeling pressure to prove his international allegiance.

Amid ongoing debate about the selection of foreign-born players, the Glasgow centre is set to line up against his native Australia during this summer’s Lions tour.

Melbourne-born Tuipulotu, who made his international debut in 2021, is among seven members of Andy Farrell’s 38-man squad who hail from overseas.

While five of those players are eligible for their adopted nations purely on residency rules, Tuipulotu qualified through ancestry.

The 28-year-old’s Greenock-born grandmother was at Murrayfield last autumn to see him score a try while leading Scotland to a 27-13 defeat of the Wallabies.

“I put so much on myself that I really wanted to be a Lion because I know how much it means to people over here,” said Tuipulotu, who initially feared his tour participation may be ruined by injury.

“I had gone all in with the stuff with Scotland and I just felt what better way to prove my allegiance to Scotland than go all in and try and make the Lions. That’s why it meant so much to me.

“Genuinely early days you have that feeling of ‘am I part of this?’. I always feel like talking about it is one thing but showing people how much it means to you in how you play (is another).

“When my gran came over before the Australia game, it allowed the public to put a face to the story and listen to my grandma and how much it meant to her. I think that gave eyes to the public that my story was authentic.

“I’m all in and I’m looking forward to showing how committed I am to playing for the Lions.”

Tuipulotu is raring to go after returning from four months out with a pectoral issue during Glasgow’s 13-5 defeat to Leinster on Saturday.

He will be joined on tour by South Africa-born Scotland team-mates Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe and New Zealand-born Ireland trio Bundee Aki, James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park.

Canberra-born Ireland wing Mack Hansen, whose mother comes from Cork, will also be on the plane back to his homeland.

“I’ve been nothing but embraced by the Scottish public ever since I started playing for Scotland,” said Tuipulotu, who has 30 Test caps.

“There’s always going to be a couple of people (who criticise), like there are for some of the Irish boys, but I take that in my stride because I don’t blame those people either.

“I didn’t grow up dreaming of playing for Scotland or the Lions, that’s the truth.

“But this is where my path has led me and I’m all in for this Lions team and for Scotland and for Glasgow, and I genuinely feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.

“I just want to grab this opportunity because I’ll never get it again, to go back to Australia, and play for the Lions.”

Ireland wing Lowe lined up against the Lions for the Maori All Blacks during the 2017 series in New Zealand.

The 32-year-old joined Leinster later that year and won the first of his 40 international caps in 2020.

“When you don’t have the blood running through your veins, there’s a little bit of that,” he replied when asked about his allegiance being questioned.

“When I was first selected for Ireland, all the people come out of the woodwork saying, ‘how is this person representing Ireland?’.

“The rules were there. We’ve all done our time and we’re fully embedded in the culture of Irish rugby.”