Sione Tuipulotu believes his career as Scotland captain is down to “heart and soul”.

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Sione Tuipulotu seems to have become a world-class center and Scotland’s new captain overnight.

That’s not true, the Tongan-born Australian explained on Friday, a day before he leads Scotland against Fiji at Murrayfield.

His rise, seemingly out of nowhere, came from working “heart and soul” on his game.

Tuipulotu added that he was spinning his wheels at the Melbourne Rebels and didn’t rediscover his love of rugby until he spent a season with the Shizuoka Blue Revs in Japan.

From there, during the COVID pandemic in 2021, he made the jump to Scotland, which he qualified for through his grandmother.

Before the year was out he made his debut for Scotland against Tonga.

“Coming here, I never thought it was all worked out, but moreover, deep down I always had a vision for myself. I believed in my talent,” he said after his captaincy run.

“I’m so glad I decided to come. The progress I’ve made probably doesn’t surprise me because I’ve put my heart and soul into my journey here and worked really hard to get to this point, not just with Scotland but with Glasgow as well.

“I think in professional sports sometimes you get lucky and you end up in the lap of coaches who have the same vision as yourself, so I put it down to the fact that I have a vision for myself and coaches who believe in me.” .

He has already played 27 matches and is widely expected to take part in the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia next year.

When Tuipulotu was named captain last week, coach Gregor Townsend said: “He often sets the emotional tone and mindset the team needs, as well as making a significant contribution to both our attack and defence.”

Six Nations co-captains Finn Russell and Rory Darge will serve as vice-captains for the autumn series.

Tuipulotu’s mother Angelina will be in Murrayfield on Saturday.

But tenacious prop Zander Fagerson may not be after he did not train on Friday for “personal reasons”, Scotland said.

If Fagerson does not play, D’Arcy Rae will be promoted from the reserves for his first cap since his debut in 2019.

Fin Richardson will go into the reserves without a cap. He is yet to play for the Glasgow senior team. He was a traveling development player for Scotland during their summer tour of America.

Scotland were limited to selecting players from Glasgow and Edinburgh only as the Test is played outside the international window. This prevented Scotland from selecting England-based tightheads Elliot Millar Mills and Will Hurd.

___

AP Rugby: