Sione Tuipulotu left frustrated after Scotland knocked out of World Cup

Defeat to Ireland ended the nation's hopes of progress in France.

Sione Tuipulotu left frustrated after Scotland knocked out of World CupPA Media

Sione Tuipulotu was despondent as he faced up to the realisation that he and his Scotland team-mates are flying home after suffering pool-stage elimination from the World Cup.

The Scots arrived in France at the start of September with high expectations after climbing to fifth in the world on the back of a string of impressive results and performances.

However, they were ultimately unable to overcome the challenge of being grouped alongside defending champions South Africa and the world’s top-ranked side, Ireland, in a top-heavy Pool B.

<em>Sione Tuipulotu was dejected following the World Cup exit (Adam Davy/PA)</em>”/><cite class=cite>PA Media</cite></div><figcaption aria-hidden=true><em>Sione Tuipulotu was dejected following the World Cup exit (Adam Davy/PA)</em> <cite class=hidden>PA Media</cite></figcaption></figure><p>After bouncing back from their 18-3 defeat to the Boks with heavy wins over Tonga and Romania, the Scots’ bid to reach the quarter-final was killed off by a 36-14 blitzing from the rampant Irish in Paris on Saturday night.</p><p>“I’m very disappointed,” said centre Tuipulotu. “We’re out of the tournament now and it feels like all our hard work and stuff like that has come to an end.</p><p>“I know there’s more rugby to be played after this World Cup but you’re in a World Cup to win it and now we’re out of it. I’m really gutted. We had a big travelling support, so apologies to them.</p><p>“We wanted to do better in the tournament but we ran into two pretty good teams in our pool and ultimately just got beaten by better teams.”</p><p>As he tried to process the disappointment of his first World Cup coming to an end, Tuipuloto, 26, admitted it was difficult to think about the future.</p><p>“I’m very upset and I don’t really know how to deal with it,” he said. “We’ve got a good team with good blokes in our changing room. But it’s just frustrating to be saying the same type of messages after tournaments like these.</p><p>“I suppose there’s another tournament and another tournament after that and maybe the right thing to say now is ‘we’ll be better in the next tournament’ but right now I’m just feeling gutted.”</p><figure class=wp-block-image><div class=relative><img loading=lazy decoding=async src=https://prod.news.stv.tv/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/c344a78b20f6b1926211cf4d2a4a34a7-1696754707.jpg width=3000 height=2135 srcset=
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