"Everything that Scotland do good, he is in the middle of it" – John Barclay talks Sione Tuipulotu as Scotland captain and the Autumn campaign ahead
Today at 01:03 PM
By Jon Page
TNT Sports pundit John Barclay sat down for an interview at the Autumn Nations Series launch in London to discuss a change in the Scottish leadership, the potential British and Irish Lions in Gregor Townsend's squad and quantifying success in this Autumn Nations Series.
After co-captaining his side against the USA with Rory Darge and against Chile with Jamie Ritchie on Scotland's summer tour, Sione Tuipulotu has been named as the sole Scotland captain, albeit with Finn Russell and Darge as his vice captains.
John Barclay, who represented Scotland 76 times between 2007-2019, is well qualified to share his thoughts on this appointment as a former Scotland captain himself.
“I love it. Yeah, I really love it as a decision. I think he’s proven himself as a player. He’s proven himself as a player that he wants more responsibility. And I think that if I was playing now and he was captain, he’s the kind of player I liked as a captain, to play for. He's like, give me the ball. Whether that’s sort of more figurative or literally.
“But he is just someone that just wants to drive things forward. And you look at the way Glasgow played in the URC final and semifinal, everything the way Glasgow played, everything that Scotland do good, he is in the middle of it.
“So, you want your captain to be in the thick of it. Every time I speak to him, I don’t know him extremely well, but I speak to him and see him around Glasgow when I’m covering games and he is just all energy, all motivation, he’s chest pumping. I think people, I think the fans will love seeing the way he approaches the captaincy as well.”
Sione Tuipulotu's appointment as captain will be a proud day in his family's history, but this day was made even sweeter with the announcement that Mosese Tuipulotu (Sione's younger brother) was named in a Scotland squad for the first time. Mosese, four years younger than Sione, also plays centre and Barclay discusses the potential of an all-Tuipulotu centre combination.
“It’d be an interesting prospect. I think we probably will at some point. I don’t know when. I think that axis of Huw (Jones) and him (Sione Tuipulotu) together is perfect to work. And you can see, Rory Hutchinson, who’s playing extremely well for Northampton.
“Mosese comes in probably number four or five with Matt Currie as well in that conversation. He literally plays exactly like Sione. Like I’ve said to a couple of you, you can imagine them, like, in the garden. Like, the way they pass, they tackle, they run, it’s identical. The way they kick. So, I think Mosese, he’s playing in Edinburgh; he was struggling for that confidence.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him for Edinburgh, but I think for him probably being in that environment, seeing how he can play and how he can learn from being around Finn Russell and the opportunities, and Gregor is, you know, super switched on in terms of how to draw more out of him. There's definitely a pretty bloody good player inside of him. It’s just we haven’ t seen it yet.”
Scotland face Fiji first this Autumn Nations Series, before playing South Africa, Portugal and Australia. Gregor Townsend's men are ranked 7th in the world currently, above all of their autumn opponents beside current world champions: South Africa. With this context, Barclay sets out what constitutes success this autumn for Scotland.
“They have to win three games. They have to beat Fiji, Portugal and Australia. They have to. I think if they can get close to beating South Africa or beat South Africa, that would be a sort of marker on the ground to say, Scotland are still in the conversation. And they’ve been in the conversation, but against South Africa and Ireland in particular, they’ve struggled with it for a number of years.
“So, if they can get close or if they manage to knock them over the two-time world champions, you know, rugby championship winners with the depth they’ve got, the playing numbers they’ve got, the quality of rugby they’ re playing, I can’t think of a bigger win in the last, I don’t know how many years, 20 years.”
In a storied career that included leading both Scotland to a Calcutta Cup victory in 2018 and Scarlets to the 2016/17 Pro12 title, Barclay played in all three back row positions with aplomb. Utilising his expertise in his old position, John Barclay picks his starters at six, seven and eight, where the depth of loose forwards available to Gregor Townsend is particularly strong.
“Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey, would be the Glasgow back row. I think Matt's definitely playing his best rugby, Rory’s level of consistency for a young player, that’s the hardest thing: consistency, and I think Jack is probably establishing himself as one of the best number eights certainly in the northern hemisphere, the way he played for Glasgow in that run in the final/semi-final of the league and he is such an exciting physical player that Scotland have probably missed at number eight for a number of years.”
It was revealed last week that Jonny Gray turned down the chance to play for Scotland this Autumn Nations Series, following his return to rugby for Bordeaux this season after a serious knee injury in 2023, much to Gregor Townsend's dismay. His colossal defence will be missed by Scotland, with the second row once smashing the Pro14 (now URC) record for most tackles in a game with 43.
“He’s not a young player anymore, Jonny, you know. He’s still got a lot of left to go, but he’s also matured enough to understand, he was out of contract and Bordeaux took a huge leap faith in him, put it that way. I think it’s important that you repay that faith, and you look after it. There’s also the kind of logistical, physical element:
“Scotland training/international training is intense, and then you’ve got travel, and looking after your body. For somebody who’s had the history of injuries he’s had in the last 18 months, I think, it's frustrating. I would love to see him back involved, but also, if I was him, I can totally respect that.
“We’d love to see him back playing. Scotland aren't blessed with a huge depth of second rows, we don't produce that many tall people who can move around the place and call lineouts, and he’s playing in an amazing Bordeaux team. But Gregor is frustrated, he wants his best players to pick them every week.'
As the 2025 Lions tour to Australia draws ever closer, the competition for places in the touring party will thicken this autumn, before the final Lions audition in the Six Nations. As well as suggesting some Scotland stars are essentially nailed on for selection, Barclay believes there are many other Scottish players who could thrust themselves into the Lions spotlight in the matches to come.
“Finn Russell is nailed on to go, I think Duhan is nailed on to go, I think Jack Dempsey’s as close to nailed on as you could probably go. They have to bring three hookers or four hookers, so Ewan Ashman's probably in good shape in that regard.
“I wouldn’t call him nailed on. Huw Jones, I mean there’s so many if you go across that team now, you can say I could easily see them going. But I think Blair Kinghorn, if you asked me 18 months ago, I wouldn’t say it, but now I think he is really close to being involved with that.”
Every match of 2024 Autumn Nations Series is exclusively live on TNT Sports and discovery+ Watch The Autumn Nations Rugby Show, free-to-air on Quest every Thursday at 10pm
The post "Everything that Scotland do good, he is in the middle of it” – John Barclay talks Sione Tuipulotu as Scotland captain and the Autumn campaign ahead appeared first on Ruck.
