Tuipulotu hails Scotland's resilience after first Springboks away test ahead of World Cup

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu has pointed to his side’s character in defeat as a promising sign for next year’s Rugby World Cup, after the Scots pushed South Africa hard before falling 42-28 in a Nations Championship contest in Pretoria.

The result continued a positive run of form for Gregor Townsend’s squad, who have also beaten England, France and Argentina in 2025. Scotland trailed 14-0 before fighting back to level at half-time through tries from Matt Fagerson and Kyle Rowe, and they twice closed the gap to within a converted score in the second half before Jesse Kriel’s breakaway try in the 77th minute sealed the win for the double world champions.

“I’ve never played South Africa away from home, so just to be over here and experience that, I think it’s amazing competition and it’s good preparation for us for the World Cup,” said Tuipulotu, who also captains the British and Irish Lions.

The Glasgow centre was particularly proud of how Scotland regrouped after a gruelling trip from Argentina the previous week. “With the week we had — the long trip from Argentina, how we recovered and everyone fronted up in training — I was massively proud of the group, how we prepared for this game and how we performed as well,” he said. “There were times that we could have let them run away with the game and we didn’t allow that. We kept coming back, kept fighting.”

Scotland were unable to capitalise when Boks forward Ben-Jason Dixon was sin-binned early in the second half, and South Africa responded with three tries in under 10 minutes either side of the hour mark to pull clear. Tries from Josh Bayliss and Ben White gave Scotland hope before Kriel ended the contest.

Tuipulotu acknowledged that clinical finishing under pressure remains an area the Scots must sharpen before Australia 2026. “I think we lacked a little bit of execution when we were down in their 22, particularly after half-time,” he said. “We’ll look back on that, and it might be painful for us, but it’s something that we have to look at and get better at before the World Cup. Execution when the pressure’s high, when you’re away from home.”

Scotland return to action against Fiji at Murrayfield on Saturday.