Tuipulotu finds feet again and hails world-class Ringrose and Russell

Tuipulotu (left) and Russell (right) both started in the Lions 54-7 win over Western Force on Saturday

Having missed the Six Nations through injury, Sione Tuipulotu feels hes now finding his best stuff again, the kind of power and influence that shot him to favourite for the Lions Test 12 jersey in the first place.

"Im starting to get my feet back underneath me," said the centre after playing the full 80 minutes in the convincing win over Western Force on Saturday.

"Obviously, I havent played Test rugby since the autumn. I still feel like Ive got massive growth to do and I know I can start playing my best rugby in the bigger games at the end of this tour."

Theres no doubt he is getting better with every game. Theres also no doubt that the battle for the Test midfield partnership is intense.

In Perth the partnership was Tuipulotu and Garry Ringrose, who the Scotland captain was impressed by, to put it mildly. "Jeez, mate, hes a missile out there," Tuipulotu said of the Irishmans physicality.

He enjoyed being alongside Ringrose in the red of the Lions as opposed to in front of him in the blue of Scotland.

The last time Tuipulotu faced Ringrose in the international arena was at the World Cup in Paris in 2023. Ireland sprinted into a 36-0 lead before Scotland managed a couple of late consolation tries. Ringrose was exceptional on one of the darker days of Tuipulotus Test career.

"He backed himself to make those [defensive] reads," said Tuipulotu of the howitzers Ringrose put in on a succession of Western Force attackers. "He left a few sore bodies out there, including himself. What a player.

"I really enjoyed playing with him. And then I also enjoyed when Shuggie [Huw Jones] came off the bench and got some valuable minutes after being out for a while."

In all probability Jones, after his Lions debut against the Force, will get his chance to shine from the start on Wednesday when Andy Farrells side face the more difficult challenge of the Reds in Brisbane. The Reds, coached by incoming Wallabies boss Les Kiss, finished fifth in this seasons Super Rugby compared to the Force who struggled in ninth.

Pre-match in Perth, when the stadium announcer was calling the teams, Tuipulotu was introduced as "another former Aussie Sione Tuipulotu", a crack at the Melbourne-born centres expense. Mack Hansen, James Lowe and Pierre Schoeman, the other southern hemisphere-born Lions, got similar treatment from the wiseguy with the mic.

Tuipulotu had a chuckle at the wind-up. "I knew there would be some good humour coming back home to Australia," he said. "Look, these are all things weve got to take in our stride. To not announce the elephant in the room, I am from Australia. You know, I was born here. I dont know how funny that gag is to everyone.

"But Im loving my rugby playing for the Lions and Im really passionate about it. Andy [Farrell] has brought the group together so well. To play under a coach like him, I can see why Ireland has been so successful in the past."

Tuipulotu also spoke about fly-half Finn Russells influence on the game and the stamp hes putting on the 2025 Lions.

"Were taking ideas from all the nations. Obviously, the coaching style is very Ireland dominant and theres a lot of ideas that were getting from the Irish coaches, but then theyre sprinkled on. When Finn comes in, he plays his style. He plays to the structure of the team, but hes a very instinctive player and he wants to play whats directly in front of his face.

"Theres a mixture there and I think thats whats going to make it hard to defend for teams. Theyre not necessarily defending a structure of play, theyre kind of defending a structure of play with really supreme individuals conducting it, like Finn.

"Finn coming into the line-up helped a lot. Ive played a lot of rugby with Finn so that combination doesnt really need to be worked on.

"Hes a world-class number 10. Hes been here, done that. Hes come off a really good season after winning the Premiership with Bath and I thought him and Tomos [Williams] controlled the game and were able to move the ball like we talked about during the week. You could see how were trying to play the game."

In a lighter moment during the press conference after the game, Farrell mentioned that the squad had created their own song, a first blast coming in Perth.

"I think Fin Smith and Huw Jones wrote up the song. We got the first crack of it in the changing room. Id like to perfect it before I share it to the world. Yeah it was pretty rough, to be honest. We were off beat, so were going to need a few more practice runs before we nail it and put it out to the media."

Out of tune off the pitch, perhaps, but they hit enough right notes against the Force. Onwards to Brisbane now and the Reds on Wednesday.