Glasgow Warriors love-bomb Scotland star Sione Tuipulotu amid reported interest from England and France

The Scotland centre is in the final year of his contract and a number of teams are monitoring the situation. Bath, Harlequins and Stade Francais have all been credited with an interest in the player who was instrumental in Glasgow’s United Rugby Championship triumph and has made an equally impressive start to this season.

Tuipulotu, 27, is in his fourth year with the Warriors and his coach, Franco Smith, knows that the success of last season will have heightened interest in his squad from other clubs, some of whom have deeper pockets than theirs.

The player will become a free agent next summer and has a big decision to make.

“I think it's how much Sione wants to remain a Warrior,” said Smith ahead of Glasgow’s game against the Sharks in South Africa on Saturday. “That's important. Obviously, he's shown the way he's played, we love him as a player here and I believe that he's happy here.

“I hope that that is the important thing. I think for him to stay here with us will show how much he cares. So I don't want to go into much now, especially not today on this tour and we're away from Scotland. So yes, they can make contact and there's probably more than one of our players that's been contacted.

“The value of the Glasgow Warriors players all went up. So we understand that. But for now, I think the focus should sit on what we want to achieve on Saturday and next week.”

Tuipulotu, who will captain Glasgow in Durban against a Sharks team featuring 12 South African internationals, has proved to be an inspired signing. He joined the Warriors in summer 2021 after spells in his native Australia with the Melbourne Rebels and Japan with Yamaha Júbilo. He hit the ground running and made his Scotland debut in the autumn Test against Tonga in October that year. Qualifying through his grandmother from Greenock, he now has 26 caps and spoke last month of his ambitions to represent the British & Irish Lions on their tour of Australia next summer. He signed a new contract with Glasgow in January 2023.