Manu Tuilagi has a simple goal in 2016 – to play rugby, a serious amount of rugby, after a 13-month period without action due to a chronic groin problem. On and on it has dragged, with promises of an early return deferred and then dashed altogether. Even the media gave up asking the question, so often were there alterations to the schedule. The signs are promising, though, that he will get on the field imminently, restored to the front-line.
Tuilagi has been suffering with a groin problem
The player was later to protest that the story was not quite as it appeared but he had pleaded guilty to the charge and had been duly sentenced, albeit the sanction was at the very low end of the possible tariffs.
It was all enough for Stuart Lancaster to exclude him from his World Cup squad although Tuilagi would not have been fit in any case. It was a public rebuke for a player who had had a couple of previous indiscretions, either on the field of play or in the unlikely surroundings of Auckland Harbour where Tuilagi was to be found after diving from a ferry in his underpants after England were knocked out of the 2011 World Cup.
Tuilagi has off-field issues
Leicester have put a lot of faith in Tuilagi, supporting him through his injury problems, and there is good reason for that – he is a player of note as well as a character with a mischievous rather than malign streak in him.
The 24-year-old is all too aware that he needs to repay that trust, knows too that he owes it to himself to show what he has to offer on the field of play. He looked unstoppable when he was at the heart of England’s stunning win over the All Blacks at Twickenham in December 2012. That is the sort of centre three‑quarter power-play that will attract the interest of Eddie Jones when Tuilagi is back in the groove.
The new England head coach has pledged to give everyone ‘a clean slate,’ and will pick on form rather than on reputation. Tuilagi has the chance to impress and he is sure to take the opportunity.
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