For Sione Tuipulotu, a dream homecoming continues. On Saturday, the Scotland centre became a British and Irish Lions try-scorer, setting the first Test winners on their way after collecting Finn Russell’s pass and scooting over in Brisbane; on Sunday, the 28-year-old boarded a flight to his hometown, a victorious Victorian back in Melbourne and relishing the prospect of sealing the series at the MCG next Saturday.
Tuipulotu has spoken ever since being selected of his belief in a higher power twisting the fates so neatly for this special return; certainly, there has been a sense of preordained destiny about his trip to make agnostics and infidels consider whether he might be right. The inside centre might not even have started the first Test if not for the sliding doors caused by Garry Ringrose’s injury, and yet there could be no more fitting opening try-scorer – Tuipulotu may be Australian by birth, but no-one has spoken with more emotion about what being a Lions means to him.
