The Scotsman

Edinburgh promise to help turn Tuipulotu into a Scotland player

- Graham Bean Rugby Correspond­ent

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Sean Everitt said it was his job to develop Mosese Tuipulotu into a Scotland internatio­nal as he explained the decision to bring in a player from overseas rather than promote from within the club.

Tuipulotu, the younger brother of establishe­d Scotland centre Sione Tuipulotu, has signed a two-year contract and will arrive in the summer afterparti­ngcompanyw­iththe New South Wales Waratahs.

The hope is that he will have as big an impact as Sione, who joined Glasgow Warriors in 2021, but Everitt cautioned against comparing the two players. While both are centres, the Edinburgh coach is keen for Mosese to be viewed in his own right.

The 23-year-old initially resisted overtures from Scottish Rugby to leave Australia. Moves were made last season to entice him to Glasgow, with Scotland coach Gregor Townsend involved in the negotiatio­ns. Mosese opted to remain with the Waratahs at that point but has now decided to follow his brother to Scotland, where he is likely to be fast-tracked into the* national side and could even be involved in this summer’s tour of North and South America.

Everitt said there was a dearth of young centres at the club and that he had looked at several overseas candidates for next season before deciding that it made sense to bring one in who was Scottish-qualified (SQ).

“When I came in I felt we were in need of another young centre,” said Everitt, who was appointed Edinburgh coach last summer after working in South Africa with the Sharks and the Bulls.

“We do have really good centres at the club in Mark Bennett, Chris Dean, James Lang and obviously a young Matt Currie, and if you look to the future of Edinburgh Rugby and if we want to build within the club it’s good that we have guys coming through the system.

“We all know that he’s 23 years old, he’s part of the Waratahs Super Rugby squad at the moment and we want to develop his game so that one day he can play for Scotland.

“We did have other options earlier on in this season with guys in other countries but with a guy like Mosese coming up as an SQ player already it just makes sense that we

With a guy like Mosese coming up as an SQ player already, it just makes sense that we assist in helping develop Scottish rugby Sean Everitt

assist in helping develop Scottish rugby.

“I don’t know Mosese that well but I spoke to Sione at the end of last year about his brother to see how he was doing. At that stage he had made a decision to stay in Australia. Obviously, he’s had a change of mind and we’re just very glad we’ve managed to get him while he’s available.

“He’s not quite where Sione is at the moment and we don’t want to compare him with his brother because they are two different types of player, but he is a big young fellow with good offload skills and he has the ability to get you across the gainline. And at times that’s something that’s been lacking for us.

“We need to understand where he’s at. He’s 23, he is developing as a rugby player and it’s our job as coaches to get him into the national squad.”

Glasgow have considerab­le strength in depth at centre, with Sione, Huw Jones and Stafford Mcdowall all establishe­d Scotland internatio­nals which goes some way to explaining Mosese’s decision to go to Edinburgh rather than Scotstoun. The Warriors are also well served in that position in terms of their academy players whereas Everitt feels Edinburgh don’t have young centres at the club who are ready yet to step up from academy level to the United Rugby Championsh­ip.

The coach said it was his job to keep the club competitiv­e in the URC while also developing the best young talent and he played down concerns about bringing in another player from overseas

“I think it would be naive to think that [Edinburgh’s] under-20 players that play in their age group can compete at the highest level of the URC,” said Everitt. “The top competitio­ns aren’t there to develop. They need to develop and dominate in their age group to be able to be selected.

“It’s about players earning their stripes to play in the URC. At Edinburgh at the moment we don’t have young centres in our academy that are showing that potential. We’ve got Matt Currie who has had an unbelievab­le season for us. Whether it be at 12, 13 or on the wing, he’s always first down on the team sheet when we’re doing selection.

“So when you don’t have [more of] those type of players, you need to find players. It doesn’t matter whether the player was born in Scotland or not, he’s Scottish qualified.”

The Australian-born Tuipulotu brothers qualify through their grandmothe­r from Greenock but could have also represente­d Tonga, their father’s birthplace. Mosese said last year that his ambition was to play for the Wallabies but he has had limited game-time with the Waratahs and has now decided to make a fresh start in Scotland and is looking forward to going up against Sione who is four years his senior. “I’ve actually never played against my brother and the derby between Edinburgh and Glasgow looks like a pretty cool fixture to be a part of,” he said.

“If I do happen to get the opportunit­y to play in it, I’m sure it’ll be a special moment with Sione on the other side. I’ll look to expose him!”

 ?? ?? Mosese Tuipulotu on the attack for New South Wales Waratahs during a Super Rugby Pacific match
Mosese Tuipulotu on the attack for New South Wales Waratahs during a Super Rugby Pacific match

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