Mosese Tuipulotu move highlights Scotland’s player pathway problems
IWASN’T sure whether to laugh or cry when I heard that Australian Mosese Tuipulotu had signed for Edinburgh with a view to going on to represent Scotland. Good luck to him but how many players do Scotland have to take who reluctantly play for the thistle because their dream of representing a different country never got off the ground?
I certainly had a chuckle when I looked back at what Mosese said last year when he first knocked back an approach from the Scottish Rugby Union who offered to treble his New South Wales Waratahs wages in an attempt to tempt him north and fast-track him into the national side.
“I’ve made a decision and I am going to stay here [at the Waratahs],” said the centre who qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother from Greenock.
“I love this club and they’ve done a lot for me, so I’m happy to stay and obviously pursue that Wallabies dream. I grew up watching the Wallabies so I’d love to wear that gold jersey.’’
To be fair he did continue: “I’ve got Scottish heritage as well, so if I wear that jersey in the future, then I’d be happy to represent my culture.”
Based on those comments, representing Australia was his first choice, but one can only assume that he has now switched attention to one day joining his older brother Sione – who was also born in Australia and played for their Under-20 team – in the Scotland national team as his dream of playing for the country of his birth was never going to happen because he wasn’t good enough.
Australia head coach Joe Schmidt won’t be losing any sleep about letting Mosese, who turned 23 yesterday, move north as he has hardly impressed the Waratahs coaches, let alone him. Yet the SRU are going to pay him three times his present salary, which has not been disclosed, to play for
Edinburgh. Try and figure that one out.
Mosese has failed to hold down a regular starting place at the Australian club side, has been injury prone, and last season made just two starts and came off the bench twice in the Super Rugby Pacific tournament.
This year he has played only 12 minutes off the bench in the Waratahs win over the Crusaders in March. At the weekend he was released by the Waratahs to play for club side Eastern Suburbs against Eastwood.
Some players who gave up on their childhood dreams of representing the country where they grew up have been abject failures, like New Zealander Hugh Blake who won one Scotland cap in 2015 under Vern Cotter.
To be fair there have been more successes than failures – the South African trio of Pierre Schoeman, WP Nel and Duhan van der Merwe, plus Mosese’s brother Sione among them – but ask any of them and I bet they would have preferred to have played for the Springboks and the Wallabies respectively.
The continual damage done by parachuting players from abroad into the highest level of Scottish rugby was brought home to me by a weekend visit to Hawick Rugby Club to watch them lose a thrilling
Premiership play-off final to Currie Chieftains where I found out firsthand the disconnect between fans at grassroots level and those who run the game from Murrayfield.
Chatting to fans of both sides at Mansfield Park, it was clear they feel they are being ignored by the SRU – which the governing body strongly denies – and accuse them of being more concerned in bringing in overseas players to bolster the national team than trying to improve the game from amateur level up.
There was no bad feeling from the fans towards Mosese for signing for Edinburgh with many understanding why he would want to treble his club wages at one fell swoop, but there was no excitement about him one day playing for Scotland.
Questions were asked yet again over the pathway to the top and whether they will ever see a player from Hawick, such as Stuart Hogg, Rory Sutherland or Darcy Graham, going from Mansfield Park to playing for Scotland again?
Two weeks ago I had watched Hawick win an exciting Scottish Cup final against Edinburgh Accies at Murrayfield and had been in the room when their president, Ian Landles, voiced his concerns over the future of the cup competition.
He explained that Hawick were the only senior Border club to enter the tournament because it costs teams money to take part in terms of booking buses for away games, while also stretching their playing resources.
He used his club as an example of how tough it is by revealing it cost them £700 to hire a bus to take the team to Dundee and back for a Scottish Cup game and they got nothing in return financially as there was no crowd to speak of at the game.
The winners of the Scottish Cup get a trophy but no money which is another turn-off for cash-strapped amateur sides.
At least the SRU are aware of the concerns of the amateur clubs over the future of the league and the cup, especially with the Super Series being wound up.
The rugby development department at Murrayfield have been working hard and consulting with clubs since March to offer different formats and options for both league and cup fixtures for next season.
I am told the discussions have been positive and senior Murrayfield figures will meet the Premiership club forum on Wednesday.
At that point the consultation process for next season will draw to a close and new league and cup structures will be announced as soon as possible afterwards.
Let’s hope the plans are acceptable to all sides and there is a new dawn for Scottish club rugby to the extent that having to bring in players like Mosese from abroad happens less and less because there will be more than enough top-quality homegrown players to fill the gaps in both pro sides.
I can but dream.
Australia head coach Joe Schmidt won’t be losing any sleep about letting Mosese move north as he has hardly impressed the Waratahs coaches, let alone him. Yet the SRU are going to pay him three times his present salary to play for Edinburgh