Graham Bean and Mark Atkinson discuss the Six Nations-ending injury to Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu.
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00:00Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Rugby Show. I'm Mark Atkinson, Sports Editor
00:08and I'm joined today by our Chief Rugby Correspondent, Graham Bean, who is in Rome for the Six Nations
00:14launch which takes place in the next 24 hours. However, one man who won't be in Rome is Sioni
00:20Cioppolotto, the Scotland captain, who has been forced to withdraw from the Scotland
00:25squad due to injury. Graham, huge news coming out of the Scotland camp this Monday, no Cioppolotto
00:32for the whole tournament. Just talk us through what's happened here.
00:35Yes, it's a real blow. I think we were half expecting it after the news broke at the weekend,
00:41but it still comes as a real hammer blow for Scotland and Six Nations chances. What's happened
00:48is Sioni Cioppolotto picked up an injury last week while training with Glasgow. It's such
00:56a serious injury, it's an upper or pectoral muscle in the chest area, such a serious injury
01:01that he's ruled out for the whole Six Nations. He's going to have to have surgery on it this
01:06week and the hope is that he'll return at some point later in the season, but he'll
01:11certainly play no part in the Six Nations Championship. So it's a real blow. Scotland's
01:16captain, of course, Dirk Talisman, who's been in brilliant form for both Glasgow Warriors
01:20and for Scotland the last season, for a couple of seasons really. He's just got better and better.
01:27He's made Scotland captain in the autumn for the first time on his own and he led the team
01:33really well and took the role and really brought the best out of him. A really good win against
01:38Australia in the final match of the series, but unfortunately he's not going to be available.
01:44It's a savage turn of events for both the player and head coach, and of course also
01:50his teammates, because in the autumn they all spoke so glowingly about Cioppolotto as
01:55a captain. There's an argument that he is one of the best, if not the best, centres
02:01in the world right now. How do you think this is going to affect the dynamic of the Scotland
02:07team in terms of their performance levels and potentially the expectation surrounding
02:12this tournament? Yeah, I think it's twofold, isn't it? It's Cioppolotto the player and
02:18Cioppolotto the captain, but he performs both roles really well. You're right, he is a world
02:25class player and most rugby pundits are thinking he's a stick on to go on the Lions tour
02:32next summer in Australia. He should hopefully be fit by then, all being well,
02:40but the short term is more of our concern at the moment. He's going to be a huge loss
02:45for Scotland, because he's got the whole package really. He's incredibly skillful,
02:51but yet so strong. He leads the team well and he can do everything. You've seen the
02:56way Glasgow played, winning the United Rugby Championship last season. That's translated
03:02to Scotland. His partnership with Hugh Jones is brilliant. They work well with Finn Russell.
03:07It's a great little midfield triumvirate, the three of them. It's interesting, a lot
03:13of English people have been writing about Cioppolotto and Hugh Jones in the last week
03:17or two. There are a lot of people's ideas of Scotland as possible dark horses for this
03:22championship, but I think a few people are now probably reconsidering that on the back
03:28of this injury, which is a real blow. The big question now will be who comes in to replace
03:36Cioppolotto. Him and Hugh Jones have really made that pairing their own, you would say,
03:41over the past 18 months. Is there an obvious candidate to come in and fill the void?
03:47I think the most natural one is Stafford McDowall, his teammate at Glasgow. He has
03:53played at 12 for Glasgow pretty regularly since Franco Smith took over. He's done really
04:00well. He's got a good try scoring record. He's big and powerful like Cioppolotto. He might not
04:06quite have his skill set, but he came into the team on Saturday night there against Harlequins
04:12in the Champions Cup. Glasgow didn't play that well on the night. They did score a really good
04:19try. Tom Jordan scored the try, but it was created by McDowall. He was involved in the
04:24move twice, which encapsulated what he's good at. He passes the ball really well. He's a powerful
04:31runner. I think he's the most likely option to come in at 12. He's also got the bonus of
04:38he's familiar with Hugh Jones. They played alongside each other a lot, so he could slot in
04:43there. He's relatively inexperienced at an international level. He's only got eight caps.
04:49He did come into the Six Nations at the end of last season playing as Ireland and played well.
04:54He's got a bit of experience, but not too much. It's interesting, Graeme, that Scotland, despite
05:01the injury to Cioppolotto, and we should also mention the injury to Scott Cummings at Loch,
05:06which looks like they rule him out of the tournament or at least part of the tournament
05:10with an arm problem. They haven't yet brought in any extra reinforcements. Do you look at those
05:18positions and go, are we potentially light in those areas now? Yeah, we are a bit. I think,
05:26particularly in the second row, Scott Cummings is an important player for Scotland. You won't get
05:33the headlines like Cioppolotto will, but he plays an important role. He's very experienced. Him and
05:39Grant Gilchrist play well together in the second row. It leaves us with just four second rows in
05:47the squad, Gilchrist and Jonny Gray being the two experienced ones, and then two younger players,
05:54Gregor Brown and Marshall Sykes, who just have five caps between them. One of them is certainly
06:00going to be on the bench, at least during the tournament. It's a big learning curve for those
06:07two, or for whichever one plays. I would imagine the first choice painting will be Gilchrist and
06:14Jonny Gray. But yeah, Cummings is a big loss as well. On the flip side, Jonny Gray has been,
06:22by all accounts, playing very well for Bordeaux Begla, who are going great guns in the French
06:27top 14 this season. Yeah, it's been a really good move for him. He was out for about 18 months with
06:34a serious knee problem. He left Exeter. He's gone to France, a new start. As you say, Bordeaux have
06:42done really well in the top 14. They were also at the top of their group in the Champions Cup
06:48ahead of Toulouse. So, it's been a good move for him. But he has a couple of injuries,
06:54most recently an ankle injury that's kept him out of the team. So, he comes in with a little bit of
07:02slight concern around that, but hopefully he'll be okay for the first match, which is a weekend
07:06Saturday. Of course, Gregor Townsend is due to speak on Tuesday at the launch. He'll naturally
07:15try and put a brave face on what's been dealt to him over the weekend. It must still be stated,
07:21though, Graeme, that there's plenty of top quality in the Scotland team. That's probably,
07:28if there's one solace to take, maybe a couple of years ago, had we lost the key player,
07:33there wouldn't be really anyone else to step in. But now you've got players like
07:36Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn, who have emerged as standouts. And you've also got the two wingers,
07:42Johan van der Merwe and Darcy Graeme in the backs. There still should be an expectation
07:48level here that Scotland can make an impact on this tournament. Yeah, I mean, there's still
07:53plenty of stardust there, isn't there, in the back line. And we've got Xander Ferguson up front,
07:57who's been excellent, arguably another world-class player for Scotland. I think it's just the fact
08:02that you lose your captain so close to the start of the tournament, it does come as a bit of a
08:10sucker punch. But you're right, we have to get over that. And there is a bit of time before that
08:16first game at Murrayfield. Time to regroup, time for the squad to get together. And I think by the
08:25time it all kicks off, professional sport does move on very quickly. And you know, Teddy knows
08:32he has to work with the players he's got. There's no point in moaning. I'm sure he will be moaning
08:38the loss of two players at the launch, but after that, I think he has to get on with things and
08:43work with the players he's got. And there's a lot of talent in that squad. It's just maybe not quite
08:49as talented as it would be with C1E in there. Indeed, indeed. Just talk us through very briefly,
08:56before you go, what's in store in Rome over the next 24 to 48 hours? What are these Six Nations
09:03launches all about? Yeah, well, this one's a bit different. I think it's the first time Rome's
09:08staged it. And tonight they're going to do a screening of the Netflix series Six Nations
09:15Full Contact. They've commissioned a second series of that. It looks back at last year's
09:21Six Nations. So we get a sneak preview of that. And I know one of the episodes is centred pretty
09:27much around Doohan van der Merwe and the match against England last season, which I don't think
09:35is a spoiler to say that he scored a hat-trick in it, but it's a good episode. I've seen that one.
09:42And then tomorrow is the launch itself, which what usually happens is the six coaches and six
09:50captains assemble and speak to various media outlets and talk about their prospects for the
09:59forthcoming championship. So it's a good chance to catch up with all the different nations,
10:05different teams. And I believe Rory Darge is stepping in to fill the Sione-shaped void for
10:13Scotland. He and Finn Russell have been named as co-captains in the absence of Tupel. It's a role
10:21they did last year, actually, for the Six Nations, so they're stepping up again. So it makes it sound
10:28a bit like the Sione's such a big figure, they need to have two people to replace them, but
10:32I'm sure they'll both do a good job. Absolutely. Okay, Graham, well, look, it's been a long day
10:37travelling for yourself. I'm going to let you go and enjoy a little bit of Rome before the Six
10:41Nations launch begins. Thank you for joining us. And we'll have plenty more content from Rome
10:49online, in print and on video over the next 48 hours. And then, of course,
10:52all the build up to the Six Nations 2025 in the Scotsman. Thanks for your time as always.
10:57Thanks, Mark.