{"id":221697,"date":"2025-06-28T15:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/221697\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T15:55:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:55:14","slug":"tuipulotu-gives-verdict-on-ringrose-but-singles-out-another-world-class-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/221697\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuipulotu gives verdict on Ringrose but singles out another ‘world-class’ Lion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

British & Irish Lions<\/a> centre Sione Tuipulotu<\/a> has praised Garry Ringrose<\/a> but highlighted the impact of another more familiar teammate following the Lions\u2019 emphatic 54\u20137 win over the Western Force<\/a> in Perth.<\/p>\n

Tuipulotu, starting at inside centre for the first time on tour, formed a new midfield pairing with Ireland\u2019s Ringrose \u2013 and was impressed with the Dubliner\u2019s sharp defensive edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoved it [playing with Ringrose]. Jeez mate, he\u2019s a missile out there, isn\u2019t he. He backed himself to make those reads. He left a few sore bodies out, including himself.<\/p>\n

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\"VideoBritish & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App<\/p>\n

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Ringrose crossed for a second-half try and was typically tidy in defence, with Tuipulotu noting how well they linked up with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a player. Really enjoyed playing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Team Attack \"Team <\/p>\n

277m<\/p>\n

Post Contact Metres<\/p>\n

312m<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He also had a word for more Glasgow<\/a> teammate Huw Jones<\/a>, who came off the bench in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed when he came on and got some valuable minutes having been out for a while now.\u00a0We\u2019re linking quite nicely. We\u2019ve just got to keep building before the Test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got massive growth to do on this tour,\u201d said Tuipulotu, who is relatively fresh back from a long-term injury. \u201cI\u2019m still getting my feet back underneath me.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it was another familiar teammate who really impressed the Glasgow centre.<\/p>\n

\"GarryGarry Ringrose of British & Irish Lions after scoring his side\u2019s fifth try during the tour match between Western Force and the British & Irish Lions at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia. (Photo By Steve Christo\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Scotland teammate Russell made his first start of the tour and was at the heart of several of the Lions\u2019 best attacking moments, including two early tries from Dan Sheehan<\/a> and Tomos Williams.<\/p>\n

Tuipulotu said the fly-half\u2019s influence was clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Finn coming into the line-up helped a lot. I\u2019ve played a lot of rugby with Finn so that combination doesn\u2019t need to be worked on and I thought we linked well out there and he controlled the game well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions backline looked significantly more fluid in attack than it had against Argentina, with Tuipulotu crediting Russell\u2019s presence and tempo for bringing the unit to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a world-class No.10. He\u2019s been here, been there, done that. He\u2019s come off a really good season after winning the Premiership with Bath<\/a> and I thought he and Tomos controlled the game really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to move the ball like we talked about during the week and like I said, we\u2019re still growing. There\u2019s a lot of growth left in us. I thought with the identity at least, you could see how we\u2019re trying to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win eases pressure on Andy Farrell\u2019s side following their opening defeat and sets them up for next week\u2019s clash against Queensland Reds<\/a> in Brisbane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British & Irish Lions centre Sione Tuipulotu has praised Garry Ringrose but highlighted the impact of another more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-221697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}