Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu is channeling quiet confidence as his team prepares to face world champions South Africa in Pretoria. Instead of making bold public statements about potential upsets, Tuipulotu believes the team's belief should remain within the changing room.
"I'd like to think maybe our confidence is a little bit more quiet, to keep it in the changing room," Tuipulotu said. "There's no point about talking about anything like that before the game, because you've got to go out there and play the world champions in their backyard."
Tuipulotu indicated that this approach stems from lessons learned over the past few years, particularly after a challenging match against Argentina last November. Following that loss, he had publicly stated he would refrain from making future pronouncements on the team's ambitions after they were met with scrutiny when not delivered upon.
Despite the reserved public stance, Tuipulotu expressed unwavering confidence in his squad. "Of course I'm confident in my group. I'd be stupid as a captain to sit up here and say, 'I'm not confident in my group and we're going to go there and lose' before the game. That's stupid, you know? So of course I'm confident in my group, but we'll focus on ourselves. We know the challenge at hand and we're just really excited for it, genuinely."
Head coach Gregor Townsend and several players have credited honest internal discussions after the November defeat to Argentina as a turning point for the team. This has coincided with an upturn in results, including victories over Wales, England, and France in the Six Nations, and a recent win away against Argentina.
Tuipulotu believes the Scottish side has evolved since their last encounter with the Springboks in 2024. He noted that while they matched South Africa's physicality in that previous match and created scoring opportunities, they ultimately failed to convert them. "I think we're a much different team now," Tuipulotu stated. "I would like to think that we've kind of evolved into, I suppose, becoming the team that we want to become. We saw bits of that in the Six Nations and I was really proud of the performance last week away from home [against Argentina]."