The 27-year-old partners his Glasgow Warriors teammate Huw Jones in the midfield. Having made his Test debut against Tonga in 2021, Tuipulotu has been one of the outstanding centres in world rugby and his leadership abilities have been rewarded by head coach Gregor Townsend with the skipper's armband this year. Tuipulotu becomes the second Australian-born player to captain Scotland following Doug Keller in 1949.
Watch every game of the Autumn Nations Series live on TNT Sports
Fresh from taking Stuart Hogg's national try-scoring record against Uruguay, Duhan van der Merwe lines up on the wing along with Darcy Graham in a squad that, bar the Sharks' Dylan Richardson on the bench, is made up of Scotland-based players due to the Test falling outside of the international window. Kyle Rowe is named at fullback, while scrum-half Ali Price starts for Scotland for the first time since Scotland's loss to Ireland at the 2023 World Cup. Price takes his position in a Glasgow half-back pairing with fly-half Adam Hastings.
The Zander Fagerson-Pierre Schoeman prop partnership continues apace, with Ewan Ashman - one of Fantasy Rugby Geek's Value Picks for his try-scoring prowess - starting at hooker. Grant Gilchrist and Scott Cummings link up in the second row. Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey - all title winners with the Warriors last season - take their place in the back row.. Hooker Richardson has received approval from the Shark, one of the URC's South African sides, and could be set to win aiming to make his second appearance at Scottish Gas Murrayfield following his debut in 2021.
Elsewhere, Auckland-born playmaker Tom Jordan - who made his 50th Glasgow appearance in that title-winning URC run - now qualifies for Scotland and could appear from the bench during Saturday's match.
Scotland follow this weekend's match against Fiji with fixtures against South Africa (10 Nov), Portugal (16 Nov) and Australia (24 Nov) - all live on TNT Sports.
Scotland team to play Fiji:
15. Kyle Rowe - Glasgow Warriors (7)
14. Darcy Graham - Edinburgh Rugby (39)
13. Huw Jones - Glasgow Warriors (50)
12. Sione Tuipulotu - Glasgow Warriors (27) CAPTAIN
11. Duhan van der Merwe - Edinburgh Rugby (41)
10. Adam Hastings - Glasgow Warriors (30)
9. Ali Price - Edinburgh Rugby (67)
1. Pierre Schoeman - Edinburgh Rugby (34)
2. Ewan Ashman - Edinburgh Rugby (19)
3. Zander Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors (67)
4. Grant Gilchrist - Edinburgh Rugby (72)
5. Scott Cummings - Glasgow Warriors (39)
6. Matt Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors (47)
7. Rory Darge - Glasgow Warriors (22) VICE-CAPTAIN
8. Jack Dempsey - Glasgow Warriors (20)
Replacements
16. Dylan Richardson - The Sharks (3)
17. Rory Sutherland - Glasgow Warriors (33)
18. D’Arcy Rae - Edinburgh Rugby (1)
19. Max Williamson - Glasgow Warriors (4)
20. Gregor Brown - Glasgow Warriors (3)
21. Jamie Dobie - Glasgow Warriors (6)
22. Tom Jordan - Glasgow Warriors (uncapped)
23. Stafford McDowall - Glasgow Warriors (5)
