New captain Stafford McDowall admits it will be a dream come true to lead Scotland out at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Glasgow Warriors captain, who was co-captain alongside Luke Crosbie for the summer tour win over Canada, will lead the team on his own for the first time against Portugal.
McDowall, 26, said it is an unexpected honour.
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“It’s something that I didn't think I'd have the chance to do,” the 26-year-old said.
“It is a dream come true to play for Scotland and to start a game here at Murrayfield, never mind lead the team out.
“It's hopefully something I'll be able to take in from and remember for the rest of my life.”
And McDowall is determined to make the most of the opportunity, though he anticipates nerves will increase as kick-off looms.
“It’s something I might never get the chance to do again.
He added: "The closer we get to the game, the more it will probably hit me and I'll get a bit more nervous.
"It hit me a bit more on Friday when I had to do a bit more talking and stuff like that than in the last couple of weeks."
McDowall has been charged with leading a Scotland side showing 14 changes from the defeat to South Africa.
He revealed the message from head coach Gregor Townsend.
“Just to do similar stuff to what I do for Glasgow - just try to impose my game. Try to lead from the front physically as well in attack and defence. So not too much different.
“It’s about not overthinking the captaincy and going away from my normal game, which is what got me here in the first place.”
He said: “Sione, Jamie [Ritchie], Finn [Russell] and all those guys have been really good.
“They've just kept me in line with the right stuff to do. They’ve been in my ear about the right message to deliver and they've been really good.
“It was nice to see them congratulate me and say how happy they were for me.
“Sione came up to me and said congratulations - he was really happy for me, so it's definitely a shared workload, not something that's just falling on one person.”
In the absence of Tuipulotu and another Glasgow Warrior Huw Jones, McDowall will partner Rory Hutchinson in Scotland’s midfield.
"We've trained a lot together. and he brings a lot of skills to the game," McDowall said at his pre-match press conference.
"He’s a great ball player and has a great passing and kicking game.
“He has pretty much the same skill set as a 10. We’ve seen him play 15 for Scotland before and the defensive side of the game is something that he's worked on as well a lot.
“I'm looking forward to hopefully running some good lines off him tomorrow and hopefully he can put me in a bit of space.”
McDowall’s men will face a Portugal side missing several of their Rugby World Cup stars who guided Os Lobos to a historic win over Fiji as well as a draw with Georgia, but the new captain insisted the home side are not taking their visitors lightly despite a defeat at home to USA last Saturday.
He added: “I know they may have been a bit disappointed with the result last week, but we're fully expecting a team that beat Fiji and pushed all the other teams in their group so close to rock up here.
“Obviously, it's a big occasion for a lot of us, but it's a big occasion for them as well, getting to play here, so, we're expecting a really tough test.
“That's the big thing we've talked about this week with the amount of changes: it doesn't matter who we're playing.
“This is your chance to play for Scotland at an almost sold out Murrayfield."
Portugal: Simao Bento, Raffaele Storti, Jose Lima, Tomas Appleton (captain), Lucas Martins, Domingos Cabral, Samuel Marques; David Costa, Luka Begic, Diogo Hasse Ferreria, Jose Madeira, Duarte Torgal, Andre Cunha, Nicolas Martins, Frederico Couto
Replacements: Abel Cunha, Pedro Vicente, Antonio Prim, Antonio Rebelo de Andrade, Vasco Baptista, Antonio Campos, Hugo Aubry, Manuel Cardoso Pinto
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