PREM Cup win would be 'cherry' on top for Kepu Tuipulotu in family 'feud'

Kepu Tuipulotu hopes to celebrate winning a new ‘multi-year’ contract with Bath by helping the club into the semi-finals of the PREM Rugby Cup, whilst also getting one over on his big sister.

Bath face West Country rivals Gloucester in what is effectively a winner-takes-all clash at The Rec on Saturday, and had she not been training with Wales, there’s a good chance barnstorming prop Sisilia Tuipulotu would have been in the crowd wearing her Gloucester kit goading her brother.

Sisilia pulled off the stunt back in October when Kefu came off the bench in a 38-17 win for the Blue, Black and White and the Bath hooker hopes to have the last laugh again.

“She came down to support me in full Gloucester kit so that was  quite good, to get banter from her,” he laughed.

“We do have these kind of family feuds; she is quite patriotic to Gloucester and I am quite patriotic to Bath, so it’ll be a good run out going against them this weekend.

“I am sure she’ll be watching on the telly and I’ll get some stick from her after the game.

“Playing Gloucester is quite a big game for us, same as any team we take on, but there’s an extra edge around a West Country derby, it is quite intense, so it should be pretty cool.”

Family feuds are nothing new in the Tuipulotu household, which is rich in rugby history.

In addition to Sisilia, the rest of his family have strong ties to Wales. Kepu’s father, Sione, played for Newport, cousin Carwyn Tuipulotu played for Wales U20s, and Wales legend Taulupe Faletau is one of many cousins to have excelled at the sport, which include Scotland skipper, Sione Tuipulotu.

However, whenever Wales played England as a kid, Kepu was the only one cheering on the team in white, despite being born in Newport, mainly to wind the rest of his family up.

“I just wanted rivalry between family members,” Kepu said in a recent Rugby Journal interview.

“Everyone would be, ‘Wales, Wales, Wales’, and I’d be, ‘come on England’. I remember one game, when Elliot Daly scored the winner, they were all getting louder and louder, ‘Wales are going to win this one’. Then Ford gets it to Daly, he scores, I’m out of my seat! Everyone was, ‘we’re going to kill this guy’.”

Asked to elaborate on this in today’s chat with RugbyPass, the 20-year dynamic hooker added: “I was a proper menace, proper annoying when I was younger. I was so competitive. Whatever my sisters did, I just wanted to win. My older sisters would just give up and let me win and I would try and rub it into their faces.

“I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I’d just go around causing havoc. I’ve aways been the annoying younger brother to everyone.”

Nowadays, it is gnarled Bath veteran and fellow hooker, Tom Dunn, and other senior players who keep the young whippersnapper in check.

“You’ve got Duinnie and it’s the same with Joe Cokanasiga, who is also quite in charge of me,” he said.

“All the senior lads have been a big help, they keep me in line, keep me in check.

“I am still 20 and still learning my trade so having these older lads look after me and help me is vital to my development.”

Once his talent became obvious, the former Harrow school pupil stayed true to England, even turning down an invitation by Warren Gatland to train with the senior Wales team to pursue international honours on the other side of the Severn Bridge.

He has been capped by England U20s, and can see a clear pathway to the Test team, with his mate Viliame ‘Billy’ Sela having already received a call-up by Steve Borthwick.

“Bill is like a brother I never had in terms of how close we are. It was quite funny, he got called up to the England squad when we were playing FIFA at my house. He stopped and said, ‘I think I am in the England squad.’ I was like, ‘mate, that’s sick.’

“Seeing him take every opportunity with how he’s gone this season makes me massively proud of him.”

At some stage in the future, Tuipulotu could be packing down in the England front-row with one of Sela’s tight-head rivals,  Joe Heyes.

Heyes was once a Nottingham Forest academy player between the sticks, and unbeknown to his colleagues at Bath, Tuipulotu once shared the same sporting dream.

As a Man United supporter, Edwin van der Sar was one of his idols. “My first passion was football, I was a goalkeeper, I played for Cheltenham Town academy. But as I grew up and ate a bit more food, football started to go out the window and rugby took over,” he revealed.

“They were quite enjoyable days. I think I was the only player that wanted to get dirty, diving for the ball, left and right.

“Around 10/11, I was still football mad, I was still trying to be the next big thing in goalkeeping, but my Uncle kind of got me into rugby. One day I said I’m going to football training and he said, ‘no. no, you are coming to rugby training instead.’

As for his new deal at Bath, the former London Irish prospect is delighted that he has followed in the footsteps of recently re-signed stars such as Tom de Glanville and Quinn Roux and pledged his future to the club.

“Renewing my contract with Bath is a massive achievement for me and my family,” he said.

“Coming straight out of school and signing for Bath was a surreal feeling as these last two years I’ve been here I’ve learnt a lot.

“I’ve loved playing at The Rec and I’ve really made Bath my home.”