‘Losing Sione isn’t great’ – Huw Jones ‘gutted’ after Scotland teammate’s injury

Scotland centre Huw Jones has bemoaned the injury to his midfield partner Sione Tuipulotu, who will miss the rest of the Six Nations.

Tuipulotu and Jones have combined to form a formidable centre partnership with club and country, affectionately dubbed by fans as ‘Huwipulotu’.

However, a knee injury will sideline Tuipulotu for the rest of the tournament, with Gregor Townsend now set to name a new partnership from the one that started the opening three games of the Championship for the clash against Italy this weekend.

Tuipulotu’s injury

Bath’s Cam Redpath is expected to slot in alongside Jones in Rome, although Glasgow’s Stafford McDowall and Northampton’s Rory Hutchinson are other contenders.

“I think we’ve got great depth throughout the squad but definitely at centre,” said Jones ahead of the clash.

“I’m gutted for my mate (Sione), but Cam, Hutch and Staff are all really good players. They’ve all played well this season, and I think we’re blessed in that position right now.

“Losing Sione isn’t great but with the guys who are able to step up, we can have confidence in them.”

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Slim chance

Scotland last won the Championship back in 1999 – before Italy’s inclusion as the tournament changed from the Five Nations to the Six Nations – but still has a slim chance of winning this year’s tournament. This comes after winning two of their opening three matches, losing controversially at home to France.

However, they will need Grand Slam chasers Ireland to slip up over the tournament’s final two rounds. The Scots are still in the running for a rare second-place finish this year.

“If Ireland take it out of our hands (by beating England on Saturday), so be it,” said Jones. “We’ve got to focus on what we can control and this weekend we’ve got a massive game, Italy away. They’ll be up for it, they’ve improved.

“Last season was a close game against them, and we were at home.

“They’re a threat to what we want to achieve so we’ve got to go there with the mindset of putting together our best performance of the Championship so far.

“Against Wales, we just had a good first half and probably the last five minutes. France, again, we probably could have managed it better.
“England was a positive step forward, but I think we should be looking to have our best performance now because we’re going to need it.”

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