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Sione Tuipulotu gave Andy Farrell a reason to smile after a testing few days for the British and Irish Lions head coach.
Chiefs among Farrell’s headaches was Zander Fagerson’s withdrawal, the first casualty of the Australia 2025 tour.
The Scotland tighthead prop was unable to shake off a calf injury, and Ireland’s Finlay Bealham was called up as his replacement.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Josh van der Flier, Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose, and Tadhg Furlong are trying to shake off niggles to be fit for the United Rugby Championship (URC) final in Dublin on Saturday, and Scotland’s Huw Jones missed Glasgow Warriors’ URC semifinal defeat against Leinster with an Achilles injury.
Along with Bealham, Farrell called up England hooker Jamie George and prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour to boost numbers for the training camp in Portugal while Leinster, Bath, Leicester Tigers, and Toulouse players are unable to attend due to their ongoing club commitments.
BOOSTING NUMBERS
The Leinster, Bath, and Leicester Tigers players will join up after the URC and Gallagher Premiership finals, which both take place on Saturday.
However, it remains in the lap of the gods whether they are in any condition to play in the first tour match, against Argentina in Dublin on 20 June, six days after those finals.
Among Farrell’s current challenges, comes relief therefore that Tuipulotu appears back to his best.
The Scotland captain featured in both Glasgow’s URC playoff matches.
He played 80 minutes against the Stormers and 78 minutes against Leinster, less than a month after he returned from the pectoral injury that meant he missed the entire Six Nations.
The 28-year-old played at both inside and outside centre and scored an impressive try against Leinster in which he powered past four defenders.
STATS TELL A STORY
In Glasgow’s 36-18 win over the Stormers he made six tackles and claimed one turnover. In attack he made 10 carries for 40 metres, made two clean breaks, and assisted one try.
Tuipulotu was no less impressive in the 37-19 semifinal defeat to Leinster. He made nine carries for 27 metres, beat 10 defenders, and made 83 percent of his tackles.
Glasgow’s defeat in Dublin meant he didn’t have far to go to meet up with the squad before they jetted off to Portugal.
With Bundee Aki the only other regular inside centre not featuring in the playoffs, it appears that Tuipulotu has already laid down the first marker in the race for the Lions test 12 jersey.