The center, who had just arrived from Japan and almost immediately joined the Scottish camp, was quick to put the new arrivals at ease, remembering how long it took them to get to know Tandy as a person. Tuipulotu will hope to add to Tandy’s misery by leading Scotland to victory tomorrow night, but he will forever have fond memories of what Tandy did for him in those early days.

“He was probably the first coach I had a personal relationship with when I moved so far away from home,” he said. “I know you guys don’t believe me, but I think I’m very shy when people are around. I’m not shy now, but when I first got here I was very shy. He was one of the first coaches to put his arm around me. I think he probably taught me as a person before I was a rugby player, and it had a huge impact on my rugby because I felt like I trusted him a lot and I confide in him about things other than rugby as well.

“During the early stages of my development in Scotland, he played a huge role in bringing me out of my shell. He was the first person to encourage me. He probably saw a leader in me that I didn’t realize at the time and encouraged that side as well. So I think he and he helped me a lot in my career. I’m very grateful to him for the work he’s done inside. I probably wouldn’t be sitting at this table because without him I wouldn’t have gotten this far in my Scottish journey. I have those types of coaches around me, so I’m very grateful to him. ”

Both have come a long way since those days. Tuipulotu is currently captain of the Scottish national team and is responsible for guiding the team from their recent slump to a position where they can finally challenge properly for the Six Nations. However, after losing to Italy in the opening game, Tuipulotu admitted there was little room for error. Another loss to Wales and Scotland put us back to square one.

“We know we can’t lose even two games in this tournament and I think we’re going to come last no matter what,” he admitted. “It’s one game at a time for us and it’s Wales in front of us right now, but in the big picture we want to keep improving. We showed some good improvement in last week’s game and the thing I’m most proud of last week was that we were able to maintain that level for 80 minutes.”

“We will be.” [in good shape with another win] But it felt like there was no “next game” before the last game. That was the reality of our situation and that was the pressure I put on myself. The pressure is still there and it feels like there will be no more matches after this. We need to play whoever is in front of us at the moment and that is Wales. We know we’ll have a fallow week after that, so we can rebuild the team and maybe get some players off the injured list. But I don’t want to start thinking beyond the fallow week or start thinking about the last two games. We just need to get this and we’re desperate to get this win. ”

Welsh despair

In fact, it is Wales who are more hopeless after losing 23 out of 25 games, which many fans voted for last weekend against France. “We know a few players who are in camp with Steve. Danny [Wilson] Also the players I played with in the summer, the Welsh players who are there. Coming from outside, I’ve always felt that Welsh and Scottish people are very similar. They have the same underdog story and play like that.

“My message to the players is that if we felt hopeless last week, tomorrow we’re going to feel hopeless on a completely different level. I expect them to play really fired up to play in front of our fans and we’re preparing like this. It shows that we really respect the team because we know how desperate they are and we know how well-coached they are and as human beings they are willing to fight on the front lines for their country.