Injury means the captain will miss out on the 2025 championship
He’s established himself as one of Gregor Townsend’s star men and has been widely tipped to be one of the centres in Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions squad this summer. So why is Sione Tuipulotu not playing for Scotland in the Six Nations 2025?
Unfortunately, Tuipulotu sustained a pectoral muscle injury while training with his club side, Glasgow Warriors. He’s undergoing surgery, and will therefore be unable to participate in head coach Townsend’s Scotland Six Nations squad.
It’s bad news for Scotland as they head into the 2025 tournament. They haven’t won the Six Nations since Italy joined the competition in 2000, but with an impressive back line built around Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe and string-puller-in-chief Finn Russell, they arguably had potential to give France and reigning champions Ireland a run for their money.
Read more: Scotland rugby fixtures
“I think it’s a blow to the tournament and to our supporters that they don’t see Sione playing,” Townsend said at the Six Nations 2025 launch in Rome.
“But for the team you have to accept that injuries happen, and that’s why you create depth over a longer period. And we have some really good [centres] in our squad that now have an opportunity that they probably didn’t think was coming along, and we’re backing them to go and grab that opportunity.”
With no replacement called up to replace the 30-cap Tuipulotu in the (now) 35-player squad, centres Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall (who captained the side against Portugal in the Autumn Nations Series), Rory Hutchinson and Tom Jordan will be in line to start against Italy on the opening weekend of the tournament.
Tuipulotu not playing for Scotland: British & Irish Lions prospects
The injury is particularly bad timing for Tuipulotu, who’s been in contention for the Lions tour to Australia this summer. Luckily, Scottish Rugby say he’s “expected to return to action before the end of the season”, but he’ll still have to prove his fitness before head coach Farrell names his squad.
Having formed a formidable partnership with Jones, Tuipulotu has been widely tipped to compete with the Irish trio of Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose for a place on the plane. He could also be an outside bet to captain the team, though Caelan Doris and Maro Itoje seem more likely picks six months out.
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