Tuipulotu 'looking forward' to Irish test

Scotland centre Sione Tuipulotu is looking forward to the challenge of the 2027 Rugby World Cup after finding out their opponents for the competition.

The Scots will be in pool D alongside Portugal, Uruguay and Ireland for the tournament in Australia in two years' time.

It's the third World Cup in a row that the two nations have been in the same group and Townsend's men have not had an easy time against the Irish in recent years.

In fact, Ireland have won the last 11 meetings between the sides.

"I think if you would have picked any of the top-six teams and put them in our draw, we're sitting in the exact same situation we're sitting in right now," Tuipulotu.

"It's just exciting times. It's kind of strange, two years out from a World Cup, seeing the draw and the different format as well, and trying to work out how things work. But I think it's extremely exciting, and we've got two other pretty tough teams in our pool as well who performed pretty well at the last World Cup. So we know what's in front of us now.

"Ireland have been a hurdle that we've struggled to get over and personally I think it's something that we're going to have to do over the next two games [against them], and to try and tackle that just before we go to the World Cup.

"Having that Lions experience as well with that, sharing the training field with a lot of those players and getting coached by a lot of their coaching, I think our players have taken a lot from that as well.

"It's interesting now with the journey of both teams and we're going to meet at the World Cup again in two years, but maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.

"That is our reality now and we've got to try and tackle that because in order for us to go perform as best we can or progress as deep as we can, we have to beat Ireland and that's just a reality we've got to get over that.

"It's a challenge that I'm really looking forward to as well. Because, like you say, I consider some of those boys my friends now and there's no one who you want to beat more than your friends.

"So I look forward to playing those boys in the Six Nations, as I'm sure they'll look forward to playing us."