Isn’t international rugby great? While most of us will be looking at the big games it’s important to note there are 15 international games on this weekend. I would imagine there are some spicy fixtures among some neighbouring countries, eg Czech Republic v Croatia.
The Rugby Hierarchy Opinion
Rugby is a game played by alpha males and females who like to physically dominate their direct opponent. But, most rugby players are submissive when dealing with coaches who ultimately decide how the team is run and how much they play in an inequitable dynamic.
Samu Kerevi has his opinion here and Danny care has his here on Eddie Jones. However, if you take the Eddie bashing away from it and look at the wider rugby ecosystem many coaches are at best workplace bullies and at worst workplace psychopaths, and in my view, it is from international level to the reserve grade at the Dalby Wheatmen (apologies to the Dalby Wheatmen reserve grade coach who, I’m sure, is a good bloke).
My other observation is that most players actually don’t know how to approach the coach and have an adult conversation.
Sione Tuipulotu reveals the “dark days” at the start of his rise through the ranks
Personally, I think Sione is the greatest loss to Australian rugby in the past 10 years. I reckon he’ll be the Lions inside centre next year, and at 104kg with great hands and a fantastic running game we could certainly use a centre of his quality. For those long-suffering Rebels fans who argue that he’s a product of your system, congratulations, you cut him instead of developing him into the international class player he is now.
This from the fine people of the Offsideline.
Few newcomers to Scottish rugby can have become as important as Sione Tuipulotu has done over the past three years. Since signing for Glasgow, the centre from Melbourne has made himself nigh on indispensable first to the Warriors and then to Scotland. After twice being co-captain of the national side on the summer tour of the Americas, the 27-year-old is set to take sole command of the team for the first time this afternoon [Saturday], when Fiji are the first visitors to Murrayfield in this year’s Autumn Nations Series. It will be the well-deserved culmination of a relatively rapid rise – but one which, as Tuipulotu revealed at yesterday’s eve-of-Test press conference, came close to never getting off the ground in the first place.
The problem was the timing of his move to Glasgow in 2021. Three years in Japan had rekindled his love for the game – something which, by his own admission, had faded during his previous stint with the Melbourne Rebels. But after flying to Scotland and being eager to hit the ground running, Tuipulotu fell foul of the pandemic restrictions that were still in operation.
“When I first came over I did two weeks’ quarantine because it was in the Covid times – and then when I popped out, one of the boys got Covid,” he explained. “So I ended up doing four weeks in a hotel before I did any training. And I remember there were some pretty dark days. I was thinking about going home, to be honest, because it was getting a bit tough. But I’m so glad that I made the move to come over. I put my heart and soul into my journey here, and I’ve worked really hard to get to this point, not only with Scotland, but also with Glasgow. And I’ve been lucky enough to land in the lap of some coaches that believed in my talent. And now I’m here, so I’m really grateful for everything.”
Danny Wilson was in charge of the Warriors when Tuipulotu first arrived, and Franco Smith has been at the helm there for the past two years. At national level, Gregor Townsend has been a constant since before that arrival, playing his part in the recruitment of a player who qualifies thanks to having a grandmother from Greenock. It was the national coach, naturally enough, who invited Tuipulotu to become Scotland captain on a recent visit to Scotstoun. Yet despite having been joint skipper for those two games in the summer, far from expecting to be offered the captaincy, the centre was worried he was going to get a row.
“The Scotland coaches often come into Glasgow every now and then just to talk about how we’re going and what we need to do better,” Tuipulotu explained. “And we were in a big group and then he asked me to stay back after the group. I thought I was in trouble, to be honest, so I was a bit anxious about it. But then he asked me how I would feel about captaincy.
“I think I was taken back by it a little bit, just because I didn’t expect it. But I’ve had experience over the last couple of years, vice-captaining Scotland and captaining Scotland, but also my experience at Glasgow, captaining Glasgow in big games and our finals run as well with Steyno [Kyle Steyn]. I never thought I’d be Scotland captain, that’s a fact. But I did come over here with a vision for myself to play for Scotland – and I wouldn’t have come over here if that wasn’t my vision. I would have stayed in Japan or I would have gone back to Australia to try to play for the Wallabies. So yeah, I feel like I’m well prepared for the task. It’s been a pretty crazy three years.”
Over the course of those years, especially latterly, Tuipulotu has gone from that initial state of isolation to having a burgeoning family with him in Scotland. He and his partner Lara had their first child, Tu’uhefohe Junior, or TJ for short, in the summer. His younger brother Mosese signed for Edinburgh and is now a member of the wider Scotland squad. The boys’ mother, Angelina, has flown over from Australia for the entire month. And the matriarch of the family, Greenock-born Jacqueline Thompson, has become something of a celebrity in her own right.
“My mum’s over here for the whole Autumn Nations,” Tuipulotu continued. “She got over here a week and a half ago, so she’s been giving Lara a massive hand – a helping hand at home while I’m in camp with TJ. I’m grateful for that. She hasn’t been to a Murrayfield game before, so it’s pretty cool that her first game at Murrayfield will be her son captaining. So yeah, I’m stoked.
“I think my grandma’s finally figured out how to use social media and she’s started replying to some of the fans online. Some of the fans have been saying thank you to Granny from Greenock and she’s replying, ‘No worries’. Stuff like that, which is hilarious, because it was on Facebook [and] she doesn’t even have a Facebook profile picture, just a blank face and Jacqueline Thompson. But yeah, she’s stoked and she’ll be up early in the morning watching our games. I’m really happy for her that she gets to see me captain but also Sess in the squad.”
Tuipulotu appears to have all the qualities needed to retain the Scotland captaincy for some time, but it remains to be seen how long he will stay at Scotstoun. He only has six months of his Warriors contract to go and is already attracting interest from some of the biggest clubs in England and France. Asked about his future, he insisted he was happy living in Glasgow and playing for the Warriors for the time being, but admitted that serious thought would have to be given to offers from elsewhere.
Ireland ‘blown away’ by visit from Andes crash survivor
From the BBC
As Joe Marler alluded to while announcing his retirement last week, international rugby can be something of a “dream bubble”.
But towards the end of last month, as the Ireland squad gathered in Portugal and began to look towards Friday’s mouthwatering rematch with the All Blacks, they were served a powerful dose of reality. The Irish squad have had several guests in recent years, from Bono to Shane Lowry. Hearing from personalities outside of the Test rugby grind can be illuminating and light-hearted, a welcome break from training and meetings.
But perhaps no visit stirred their souls quite like Nando Parrado’s. Parrado was once a rugby player, but he is more widely known as a central figure in a story at once inspirational and harrowing, one that exemplifies the strength of human spirit in the face of the greatest adversity.
In October 1972, a plane carrying members and family from Uruguayan club Old Christians Club crashed in the Andes on its way to Chile. It was a horrible tragedy. Twenty-nine of the 45 people onboard – including Parrado’s mother and sister – lost their lives. Those who survived were forced to eat those who had been killed in the crash. After losing several friends and family members, Parrado and Roberto Canessa, in a desperate bid to find help, trekked for 10 days without hiking gear, food or maps into Chile. Their efforts helped save the lives of 16 people and it is clear that, over 50 years on, the story still strikes a chord with those who hear it from the horse’s mouth.
Speaking about Parrado’s visit to camp, Ireland coach Simon Easterby said: “He’s just a really inspirational figure in terms of what he and his team-mates went through in terrible conditions. A real inspiration and interesting to hear from someone who had been through all of that and still had the positivity to come out the other side and live a very good life.
Easterby continued: “It was really inspirational. Just someone you could relate to because of his rugby background. The team that he played with has a shamrock on the jersey that they play in and he obviously has a massive love and affiliation towards Ireland because of that.”
Far removed from the lineout analyses and opposition scouting that are commonplace in squad gatherings, hearing Parrado tell his story understandably left an indelible impression on the Ireland players.
“Just shock I think,” Easterby said when asked about the squad’s response. “I don’t think they could quite believe it. Maybe they had seen the old film, or then there’s another more recent one that’s been made. But until you hear from the people actually involved in those experiences, you probably don’t fully appreciate what they went through and how much they’re relying on each other and how they were able to really work through some tough times and come out the other side. Obviously they lost a lot of friends and family along the way but it was a pretty inspiring story.”
Easterby’s reading of the squad’s response was accurate, with full-back Hugo Keenan saying the players were “pretty blown away” by what they had learned. “It’s an amazing story of resilience, isn’t it? It’s mad to think about what he experienced,” said Keenan. “We’ve seen it in the movies but you get a completely new and more real sense of what they all went through on that journey. We’re were taken aback by it. He spoke really well and it was a brilliant way to kick off the camp. To have him was brilliant. He told his story to us us and there were a few videos. There was a little Q&A at the end. We sat down and it went on for over an hour, but it didn’t feel like it.”
Cole surprised by timing of Marler’s retirement
England prop Dan Cole says he was surprised by the timing of Joe Marler’s retirement from international rugby because “his close friend” was closing in on 100 caps.
Marler, 34, fought back from breaking his foot against New Zealand in July to make England’s Autumn Nations Series squad. But the Harlequins prop withdrew for personal reasons last week before announcing his retirement on Sunday, finishing his England career with 95 caps.
“Did I think he would go last Sunday? No,” Cole said. “But we both knew in the end, the older we’re getting, it was coming at some point. I thought part of him wanted 100 caps but unfortunately he hurt his foot in that New Zealand Test. The good thing is he has gone out on his own terms, so he’s alive, well and healthy.”
I really like Joe Marler the game will be poorer for the absence of players who have his character. He is also still a world class loosehead.
Sully, KARL and I did a Talking Teams podcast this week. I’d recommend listening to KARL’s last five minutes on the haka discussion, it was very illuminating for this old white man.
Hoss back tomorrow. Australia by 6.
