Sione Tuipulotu's brother Mosese says his future lies with Australia not Scotland

Sione Tuipulotu has made a huge contribution to Scotland’s opening two Six Nations wins but the chances of his little brother following him in dark blue look to be slim.

Mosese Tuipulotu, also a centre, is earning rave reviews in Australia for his performances in pre-season for the NSW Waratahs. Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, had been keeping tabs on the youngster but the 22-year-old has come out and emphatically declared for the Wallabies.

The Tuipulotu brothers - there is a third who is still at school and plays at hooker - qualify for Australia, Scotland and Tonga. Sione, who joined Glasgow Warriors at the start of the 2021-22 season, represented Australia at schoolboy, under-17 and under-20 level but opted for Scotland and won his first full Test cap against Tonga in 2021. The Scottish connection comes from their maternal grandmother from Greenock, Jaqueline Thomson, who emigrated to Australia.

Sione now has 13 caps for Scotland but little brother Mosese isn’t planning on following suit. “Nah, nah. It's always been a dream of mine to play for the Wallabies and to wear the gold jersey,” he said in an interview published by Australian Associated Press. “Growing up as a youngster, seeing all those great players. Even here, Michael Hooper. That would be a great goal of mine to become a Wallaby. Our grandma’s Scottish and we’re all really proud of Sione that he’s representing part of our heritage. But I’m backing gold. Obviously he’s my brother and that’s my blood and I’m always going to support him but I was born in Australia and I’m always going to support the Wallabies.”

Sione Tuipulotu in action for Scotland against Wales during Saturday's win at Murrayfield. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Mosese scored a try in the Waratahs’ 33-32 win over Queensland Reds at the weekend and also impressed recently against the Brumbies.

Speaking earlier this season, Sione said Mosese had similar attributes to him but would follow his own path. “I don’t know if Mosese is on Scotland’s radar or if Gregor’s had a little look at him. But Gregor has spoken to me a couple of times about him,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s a funny one as my brother is on his own path after growing up being compared to me and vice versa. He wants to run his own race. I’m really supportive of whatever he wants to do. If it were up to me I’d want him to come here so we could play together but at the moment he’s got his own plans. He’s a couple of inches taller than me unfortunately – he got the height gene! But he’s pretty similar to me; a Scottish-Tongan centre who likes ball carrying.”

The Tuipulotus are from Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne. Sione played for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby and Melbourne Rising in the NRC before moving to Japan to join Yamaha Jubilo. He scored a try double for Scotland in the 52-29 win over Argentina in this season’s Autumn Nations Series and has been a stand-out in the opening two matches of the Six Nations as Townsend’s side beat England and Wales.