Sione Tuipulotu reveals the motivating mentor who will be backing him at the Aviva

The chance to make your dad proud is an emotion we can all relate to and will be at the forefront of the captain’s mind at the Aviva.

Fohe Tuipulotu will be at the stadium to watch his son in action, just as he was the previous week at Murrayfield when Sione led Scotland to a stunning 50-40 win over France.

Gregor Townsend’s side can win the Triple Crown and maybe even the Six Nations Championship as well but earning paternal pride will also be a defining feature for the Scotland centre.

“My dad doesn't speak much, to be honest,” said Tuipulotu. “He's been coming to all my rugby games since I was a kid but he doesn't have much to say after any game. He has probably a bit more to say if we lose or if I've played bad. Usually if we win there's not much said, so it was probably a good thing that there wasn't much said after last week and hopefully he doesn't say anything after tomorrow either.

Tongan dads don't show emotion

“It was the first time he's seen me as captain. This is my first Six Nations as captain and the only other time he's watched me was before last autumn before I became Scotland captain.”

Tuipulotu senior has flown in from Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne, for the final weeks of the Six Nations but his son admitted he could be a hard man to read.

“Tongan dads are all pretty similar, they don't show their emotion much,” he said. “It's hard to gauge his mood around things but I know he wants this one just as much as I do and he'll be there to support.”

Asked how he knows if his dad is proud when he doesn't show any emotion, Tuipulotu smiled: “It’s probably something that I'm still figuring out, to be honest! But that's my dad and I've just grown up like that, I suppose. And I think playing rugby for me, since I’ve been a kid, has always been a little bit like chasing that approval from my dad. That hasn't changed for me my whole career so I'm happy he’s in the crowd tomorrow because I get to chase it again.

“I understand how big this is with the Triple Crown, with the Championship alive but the game of rugby has never changed to me.

“No matter how big or how many people are in the stadiums it doesn't always go your way. but I don't rock up to the game thinking this is a bigger game than when it was just my old man in the crowd or when I was playing when I was 12, 13, 14 years old in Frankston. So that's the way I look at it anyways. So it's a lot more to me than winning a Triple Crown or winning Six Nations titles, it’s a bit more for me than that.”

History weighs heavy for Scotland

If it’s going to be a happy day for the Tuipulotu family the visitors will need to do something no Scotland side have done for 16 years: win in Dublin. History weighs heavily in this fixture, particularly for Townsend who has never beaten Ireland since becoming head coach in 2017.

The run of consecutive defeats now stands at 11 but Tuipulotu thinks that might work against the hosts. Applying some reverse psychology, the Scotland skipper posited the theory that Ireland’s winning streak is heaping pressure on the current team in green.

“There's no point saying it doesn't play on anyone's mind but I think that's more of a pressure for them than us, to be honest,” said Tuipulotu.

“They don't want to be the team to let go of their streak or they don't want to be the team to lose at the Aviva in front of 45,000 or however many the stadium holds. They don't want to be the team to not achieve what they have achieved over the last 10 years.

“So I think all those things point to a bit more pressure on them and they probably deserve that pressure because I think they deserve the pressure of being the favourites in this game because of what they've achieved in the past. So, yeah, that stuff does exist but I think that's more of a pressure on them than us.”