Gregor Townsend declared Sione Tuipulotu “the right man” to lead Scotland after appointing the Glasgow centre as the new national team skipper ahead of the autumn Tests.
Finn Russell and Rory Darge were made co-captains for the Six Nations earlier this year – replacing Jamie Ritchie who led the team to the 2023 World Cup – but it was announced on Wednesday that Townsend has opted for another change of leadership.
Australia-born Tuipulotu will captain Scotland for next month’s autumn Tests against Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia, and the head coach expects the 27-year-old to embrace the role and make it his own for the long term.
“We feel he’s been a key leader for us now for the last couple of seasons, he thrives in that leadership role,” said Townsend. “We’ve seen that with Glasgow, but also on the summer tour.
“We felt this was the right time to name one captain. Last year we wanted to grow our depth of leaders with co-captains throughout the Six Nations, and then the summer tour we had other players that got that opportunity. We still have some real strong leaders to support Sione, but we feel he’s the right man right now for the team.
“Sione talked about how he feels that he plays better when he’s captain. He feels that it really motivates him even more, which is great to hear. Sometimes captaincy can inhibit players. Sometimes it’s a bit of a distraction or a weight, whereas Sione feels like it’s something that gets him even more motivated during the week to think about the team.”
Townsend explained the decision to move away from the dual captaincy of Russell and Darge was “more to do with what Sione’s done in that leadership role”.
“I think Rory is developing as a young player, the captaincy experience was great for him,” he said. “He can provide that support to Sione. In terms of Finn, I think we also are conscious that he’s got a lot of responsibility in our game, and in charge of our attack, our decision-making.
“That was in my mind of not giving him that extra burden at times of being a captain and worrying about so much during the week. We want him to play his game and lead the team from an attacking sense. I think his relationship with Sione has really blossomed in the last couple of years on the field and off the field. They connect really well. I know Sione will be leaning on Finn and Rory and others to help him lead the team.”
Townsend insisted Russell was comfortable with the change of leadership
“Yeah, I met Finn last week,” he said. “I know Finn connected with Sione almost straight away, so they’re already talking about how that’s going to work together. I’m looking forward to Sione’s leadership and Finn working alongside him.”
Townsend has named five uncapped players in his squad for the autumn Tests, with Glasgow pair Alex Samuel and Tom Jordan joined by Edinburgh trio Freddy Douglas, Mosese Tuipulotu – the brother of Sione – and Ben Muncaster.
Douglas, the 19-year-old back-rower, has been included despite never having played a competitive match for his club.
“I think every game he’s played, whichever level it is, he’s done something that’s impressed us,” said Townsend. “We’ve trained against him with Scotland against the under-20s and he fronted up against our players.
“We’ve coached him in the last few weeks with the national academy and we love what he brings. He reminds us of Rory Darge when he was brought into Scotland sessions when he wasn’t getting games for Edinburgh and really impressed us at training.
“He then went on to have a tremendous start to his pro career at Glasgow and we feel that Freddy will be similar. He just needs that opportunity.”
Scotland squad
Forwards
Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh), Josh Bayliss (Bath), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow), Gregor Brown (Glasgow), Scott Cummings (Glasgow), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Alex Craig (Scarlets), Rory Darge (Glasgow), Jack Dempsey (Glasgow), Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Patrick Harrison (Edinburgh), Will Hurd (Leicester), Ewan Johnson (Oyonnax), Nathan McBeth (Glasgow), Elliot Millar Mills (Northampton), Ben Muncaster (Edinburgh), D’Arcy Rae (Edinburgh), Dylan Richardson (Sharks), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh), Alex Samuel (Glasgow), Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), Rory Sutherland (Glasgow), Max Williamson (Glasgow).
Backs
Matt Currie (Edinburgh), Jamie Dobie (Glasgow), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Adam Hastings (Glasgow), George Horne (Glasgow), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton), Huw Jones (Glasgow), Tom Jordan (Glasgow), Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse), Stafford McDowall (Glasgow), Harry Paterson (Edinburgh), Ali Price (Edinburgh), Arron Reed (Sale), Kyle Rowe (Glasgow), Finn Russell (Bath), Mosese Tuipulotu (Edinburgh), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), Ben White (Toulon).
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