MOSESE Tuipulotu, the 22-year-old younger brother of Glasgow and Scotland centre Sione Tuipulotu, has committed himself to the Waratahs and to his dream of representing Australia – at least in the short term.
The Tuipulotus are eligible to play for Scotland through a Greenock-born grandmother, and earlier this year national coach Gregor Townsend revealed he had made contact with Mosese in the hope of persuading him to join his sibling at Scotstoun. Speaking to reporters in Australia earlier today, Mosese said that as things stood he was happy to stay put. However, he made sure he did not burn his bridges by saying he would have no qualms about representing Scotland if that was the way his career went.
“I’ve made a decision – I’m going to stay here,” he said. “I love this club and they’ve done a lot for me, so I’m happy to stay and obviously pursue that [Australia] dream.
“I think just in the point of my career at the moment, I’m just not really sold on going yet. Whether that happens in the future, I don’t know but I’m really happy at this club and I love playing footy.
“I grew up watching the Wallabies, so I’d love to wear the gold jersey. Obviously, I’ve got Scottish heritage as well, so if I wear that jersey in the future, then I’d be happy to represent my culture.”
Speaking in March, Townsend revealed his first contact with Mosese had been an in advertent one. “I was asked by Glasgow to have a chat with him,” the head coach said. “I actually had a chat with him two years ago by mistake, because Sione had given his old mobile to him, and I phoned to chat to Sione and got him instead. So, we had a joke about that!
“He’s a player who is interesting one of the pro teams, and us in Scotland. Sione’s had such a great impact at Glasgow and with Scottish rugby, it’s wise of Scottish Rugby to follow up on someone of real potential.”
This is a young man who has clearly said he wants to play for Australia. Surely there are other young players to develop into potential Scottish internationals.
The time to offer big bucks is not yet and the lad is understandably hedging his bets. Watched him in only his second start for the Warratahs last week and he was sound enough, but hardly sensational. The boy has already expressed a preference to play for the Wallabies, just as Dingwall has said that he would rather opt for the red rose. It will be interesting to see if he finally gets his wish when the World Cup training squad is announced and good luck to him. In either case, there is only so much enticement you can make without it looking unseemly – especially if there are other lads who would crawl over broken glass to wear the thistle.
Because, as mentioned in the article, he was a target of one of the pro teams and of interest to the nagional coaches. It’s good journalism to follow up on previous stories otherwise readers are left wondering.
Where are the stories of any other people the clubs are targeting then?
To me it just seems like they are trying to draw up controversy on the whole Scots qualified stuff.
And nothing has changed in this story, The guy remains as he previously said committed to Australia. He still does not want to play for Scotland, so what new information are we getting from this? As far as i’m concerned thats the end of the story and was the end months ago.
Rugby news site reports more rugby news.
In a shock to readers, disgruntled commentators are so disgruntled that they not only read said article but add a comment complaining about it as well.
No me neither 😁
Perpetually Angry is probably disappointed the story isn’t about ITV morning TV nonentities!
Why is this news?