In the wake of the Wallabies’ humbling at Twickenham, much of the criticism was aimed at Joseph Suaalii. Much like with Finn Russell and Scotland, Suaalii is the superstar that, more than any other player, carries the hopes of his nation.
When things go wrong, as they did against England, the 23-year-old rugby league convert tends to be the first in the firing line.
“This Suaalii gamble, I dread to think how much he gets paid. He doesn’t look like an international rugby union player to me,” said the former England international Chris Ashton, who himself made the switch from league to union.
Having started on the wing at Twickenham last weekend, Suaalii reverts to the 13 jersey at Murrayfield, throwing him back into the midfield maelstrom against Tuipulotu.
The pair had a memorable collision when the sides met two years ago, Suaalii nailing Tuipulotu with a shuddering hit of such force that the man dishing out the crunching tackle was himself invalided out of the game.
The words exchanged between the players in the aftermath were spicy as Suaalii left the pitch, but Tuipilotu has a huge respect for the threat he poses on Sunday, and thinks the flak flying his way will serve only to light a fire to ram the critics’ words back down their throats.
“I know there’s been a few things flying around this week about him. I wish they could have done that in another week,” Tuipulotu joked.
“My brother [Mosese, now with Edinburgh] was with him at the Waratahs and he only had good things to say about him to be honest.
“I know how much of a talented athlete he is and there’s only so much you can poke someone before they respond.
“We are wary of the bounce back and we’re certainly not delusional enough to think that these kind of players won’t play well against us.
“I expect the very best version of Joseph Suaalii in this game and I’m excited to go up against him again.”
France’s epic victory over world champions South Africa in Paris on Friday all but ended Scottish hopes of finishing first in the northern hemisphere table.
All they can do now is deliver wins over Australia and then Japan next week to ensure they have a meaningful game against one of the southern hemisphere heavyweights on finals weekend in London.
Some precious top-level action in the bank ahead of next year’s World Cup would be vital. A dead-rubber against a middling opponent, not so much.
“For us, it’s a got-to-have-it game,” said Tuipulotu. “That’s the mood in the camp. It’s such a different feeling around the place when you’ve either won or lost.
“We know we need to win this game. We want to get that positive feeling back around the camp again.
“We want to get our Nations Championship back on track again and give ourselves a big game going into that finals weekend.”