Tuipulotu keen to surpass father Sione’s record of two Rugby World Cups

Wales prop Sisilia Tuipulotu is on a mission to beat her father Sione’s achievement of playing at two different World Cups.

Tuipulotu senior represented Tonga at the 1999 and 2007 men’s World Cups, but spent five years of his career in Wales in the early 2000s at Caerphilly and the Newport-Gwent Dragons.

Rugby is in the family blood as Sisilia’s brother Kepu played for England at this summer’s World Under-20 Championship and her cousin Carwyn plays for French Top-14 side Pau.

Other cousins include Wales and British Lions number eight great Taulupe Faletau and England’s Vunipola brothers.

“It’s really cool to have people doing this before me,” said Tuipulotu, 22, who has recovered from hamstring surgery to make Wales’ World Cup opener against Scotland in Salford on Saturday.

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“To have that support there from my family really means a lot. I’m grateful to have them.

“My dad set the bar on World Cups, but I want to try and beat what he’s done. So we’ll see how that goes.

“He doesn’t really speak much about his experiences unless we go and ask him. He isn’t much of a talker. You’ve got to try and poke him.”

Newport-born Tuipulotu was still a teenager at the previous World Cup three years ago and admits to having had “a lot of nerves” in New Zealand.

She has become a key player in the Wales pack since, but her place at the 2025 edition in England was put at risk by going under the knife at the start of February.

“I’m back in one piece and my hamstring is now the strongest it has ever been,” said Tuipulotu, who returned for the World Cup warm-up summer series in Australia, which Wales drew 1-1.

“I’m a big believer that everything that happens for a reason, but coming back after the operation was tough both physically and mentally.

“I’ve been telling the physios to get me back out there even though I couldn’t run in straight lines.

“I missed my graduation ceremony (after studying psychology at the University of Gloucestershire) but I was able to watch it on Teams in Australia, and I’m very excited to be back out there with the ball in my hands.”

After their opener against Scotland, Wales remain at the Salford Community Stadium to take on Pool B favourites Canada on August 30 before playing Fiji in Exeter on September 6.