“Scotland Captain Sione Tuipulotu Celebrates Dominant 57-17 Victory Over Fiji as Darcy Graham Shines with Four Tries”
Sione Tuipulotu expressed that his Scotland captaincy could not have started more dramatically, as his team surged to an early 26-0 advantage, ultimately winning 57-17 against Fiji in their first autumn Test. Appointed as skipper by Gregor Townsend last month, Tuipulotu was delighted with the smooth start, which featured four tries in the opening quarter.
“We came out strong,” Tuipulotu remarked. “It went even better than I anticipated, to be honest. I expected a tough battle in the first 20 minutes, but the team really stepped up.”
He emphasized to his teammates in the pre-game huddle the significance of that initial 20 minutes, especially against Fiji, who would come out energized after their traditional war dance. He noted that the forward pack was particularly impressive during that period.
After Scotland’s quick start, Fiji, missing several key players due to the match being outside the international window, managed to score three tries in the middle of the game before Scotland pulled ahead with four more scores.
Tuipulotu recognized that his team cannot afford a drop in performance like they experienced just before and after halftime when they face world champions South Africa next Sunday.
“I think our discipline between the 20 and 40-minute marks let us down, forcing us to defend too much in our own territory,” the captain acknowledged. “We had to make an excessive number of tackles, which drained us a bit. This may have led to some undisciplined play due to fatigue. We’ll analyze that to improve for next week.”
Darcy Graham shone in Saturday’s match, marking his return to the Test stage after the World Cup defeat to Ireland 13 months ago, scoring four of Scotland’s eight tries.
The 27-year-old briefly tied for the top spot on Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list before his Edinburgh teammate Duhan van der Merwe reclaimed the lead with the hosts’ seventh try in a match that began with Kyle Rowe scoring first and Huw Jones contributing two tries.
“When I walked onto the field with Darcy at the start, the pitch felt great, and I told him it was his playground because he usually goes wild every time we play at Murrayfield,” Tuipulotu said.
“And he went wild again. Darcy consistently performs at a high level for us, and I was really pleased to see him start strong in this autumn series.”