Meet the third Tuipulotu and the Scotland dream being sold to him - 'it's like Harry Potter here'

Ottavio Tuipulotu recently joined the New South Wales Waratahs and is looking to play his way into contention after overcoming serious knee injuries. He is only 20 and, unlike his older brothers who play in the centre, he’s a hooker.

Sione, 27, would love Ottavio to follow them to Scotland so the brothers could reunite and, perhaps, wear dark blue together. That’s for the future but 23-year-old Mosese Tuipulotu, who moved from the Waratahs to Edinburgh in the summer, has already been on the phone to Ottavio to sell him the Scottish dream.

Sione, who was outstanding again in Glasgow’s 42-10 win over Benetton on Friday night, is the perfect role model having made such a stirring contribution for club and country since his arrival in Scotland in summer 2021.

“I believe in all my brothers,” said Sione. “Genuinely, I think if my littlest brother comes over here, he might end up being better than me and my brother. He's 20. He's a forward, a hooker. He had two knee reconstructions before he was 18. He had a really rough run with injuries but he's really dedicated to his rugby, my little brother. I know he's at the Waratahs now. He's just moved up there after the [Melbourne] Rebels folded.

“I don't make any decisions for him but if it was up to me, he would do one year there and then come over. Try to get as much rugby under his belt in Sydney and then come over.

“Sess [Mosese] had been selling him that. We had a group FaceTime the other day and Sess was like, ‘Bro, it's not what you think. I got to Edinburgh and it's like Harry Potter here, bro. I should have come ages ago’.

“So it's like Sess was trying to sell him the dream massively but I can understand. when you're on Bondi beach, you feel like your life's pretty good. But I'm hoping to see him sooner rather than later.”

Mosese made his competitive Edinburgh debut in last weekend’s narrow home defeat by Leinster and Sione has been keeping a fraternal eye on him since his arrival in Scotland.

“I told him his first game against Leinster was probably better than my first game against Leinster and told him to manage his expectations,” he said.

“I know he wants to hit the ground running and stuff like that, but it's a long season and I've got full belief in my brother that he will start to turn the screw very soon. I was just remembering back to the first time that I played Leinster and I made three or four mistakes. Two of them led to their tries and I just thought it was something that really kicked me into the rhythm of working on my game. I just want the same for him.”

Sione and partner Lara - “an absolute rock” - had their first child, Tu’uhefohe Junior, in June and Mosese has embraced his new role as uncle.

“It's quite strange because I love having him now around my son and being so close with him, it's such a good feeling,” said Sione who has named the boy after his father. “When I left Australia, my brother was a little sh**! Now he's matured so much and he's a really good uncle and he's helpful and stuff like that. I'm so happy. I really want my littlest brother to come over next. So then we can just be three brothers in Scotland and lock up here for a bit.”

Asked if he had mentioned this to Glasgow or Gregor Townsend, Sione smiles. “No, I think they're all over it. I think the thing with my littlest brother is that he needs to play as much rugby because he's been so injury prone. The most important thing is he gets rugby under the belt, proves himself back there and then if over here's still interested, I'd love him to come over. He's got an Italian name but he’s not going to play for Benetton!”

Such are his levels of consistency, it’s sometimes too easy to take Sione’s form for granted but what he achieved last season with Glasgow Warriors was all the more remarkable given the arrival of Tu’uhefohe Junior in the midst of it. The boy was born in the lead-up to Glasgow’s URC’s semi-final win over Munster in Limerick and there was barely time to change a nappy before Sione was off to South Africa for the final triumph against the Bulls. The Scotland tour to the Americas followed shortly afterwards and Sione is eternally grateful to his fiancée for the way she coped in those first few weeks.

“My partner, Lara, has been an absolute rock,” he said. “She gave birth to TJ in the Munster week. Then obviously I was away at Munster, away at Bulls, then on the summer tour. It kind of felt like I came back and he was two months old. I missed out on so much.

“We don't have much help over here as well just because my mum and all that and her parents are back home. I don't really know how she did it by herself. Now that I help out a little bit, the late nights and then the stacking of no sleep to do by herself. She's one of my biggest motivators now early in the season. For me, I want to repay her hard work that she put in for me over the summer with these early performances in the rugby games. It's been such a blessing. That six weeks that I had off after the summer, I couldn't really go anywhere because TJ couldn't get a passport yet. It was the best thing ever because I just stayed in Glasgow for my whole holidays.

“I got into routine and I had the time to go for walks with my son and bond with him. It was honestly the best holiday ever because I couldn't imagine taking a newborn anywhere on a plane.”