Sione Tuipulotu admitted his Scotland captaincy could hardly have started in more emphatic fashion after his team raced into an early 26-0 lead on their way to a 57-17 victory over Fiji in their first autumn Test.
The Glasgow centre was appointed skipper by Gregor Townsend last month and was thrilled that his tenure began so smoothly, with four tries in the opening quarter of the match.
“We jumped out fast,” said Tuipulotu. “It went probably better than I thought it was going to go, to be honest. That first 20 minutes, I thought we were going to be in a real arm-wrestle, but the boys really fronted up.
8️⃣ tries in 6️⃣0️⃣ seconds 🏴
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 2, 2024
What a start to The Famous Grouse Nations Series.#AsOne | @autumnnations pic.twitter.com/t55EiF9O8U
“I did say in the huddle pre-game how important that first 20 minutes were going to be, especially against Fiji, because they were going to come out after their war dance and stuff like that with their tails up, so I thought particularly the forward pack really stood up in that first 20.”
After the Scots’ fast start, Fiji – missing several of their key players as the match was staged outside the international window – scored three tries in the mid-section of the match before the hosts pulled away with four further scores.
Tuipulotu acknowledges his side will not get away with a drop-off like the one that afflicted them just before and after half-time when they host world champions South Africa next Sunday.
I thought we probably had to make an unnecessary amount of tackles, and that kind of drained us a little bit
“I think our discipline between probably 20 and 40 let us down, and we had to do a lot of defending in our own 30,” said the captain. “I thought we probably had to make an unnecessary amount of tackles, and that kind of drained us a little bit.
“Maybe that led to some ill-discipline from there, just from us both being tired in our own 30. We’ll look at that and see how we can improve that for next week.”
Darcy Graham was the star of Saturday’s win as he returned to the Test arena for the first time since the World Cup defeat by Ireland 13 months ago to score four of his team’s eight tries.
The 27-year-old briefly moved joint-top of Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list before his fellow Edinburgh wing Duhan van der Merwe edged back ahead of him with the hosts’ seventh try of a match in which Kyle Rowe opened the scoring and Huw Jones chipped in with a double.
“I walked onto the field with Darcy (at the start) and the pitch felt pretty good, and I told him, this is your playground because usually every time we play at Murrayfield, Darcy’s going crazy,” said Tuipulotu.
“He went crazy again. Darcy’s always a top performer for us, and I was super happy for him to start well in this autumn series.”
