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Diamond: 'We have had no discussions about Manu Tuilagi'

By Chris Jones
Manu Tuilagi (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Steve Diamond, the Sale Sharks director of rugby, has denied opening talks with Leicester’s Manu Tuilagi, but revealed the club does have room in their salary cap for the England centre.

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Tuilagi is one of five Leicester players who have refused to sign new reduced term contracts with the club including Kyle Eastmond, Greg Bateman, Noel Reid and Telusa Veainu. Tuilagi is attracting interest from France and Japan where his reported £500,000 a year salary is not seen as a problem, however, if takes the overseas option he will be ruled out of selection for England making a switch to a rival Premiership club an attractive option even if he has to take a pay cut. Tuilagi could accept a lower salary with a new Premiership club and try to recoup the difference by taking legal action against his former club.

Sale, who have brought in a number of South African players headed by World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager to create what they believe is a title winning squad, are second in the Gallagher Premiership behind Exeter Chiefs. Despite their recent recruitment, including Stormers lock Cobus Wiese who is awaiting the chance to pass his English test to gain a visa to play in England, Diamond has confirmed the club could accommodate Tuilagi- if he becomes a target.

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‘The Beast’ talks to RugbyPass

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‘The Beast’ talks to RugbyPass

Diamond told RugbyPass: “We have had no discussions about Manu Tuilagi. People see what we are doing and our ability get everything sorted unlike other clubs. I think we are being dragged into it and I know Manu’s agent well and I trust him not to have brought us into it and I don’t know if it is the current club throwing it around to try and force the arm of the individual. I am very direct and, generally, I will say if we are or not.

“If players do become available of a high calibre as long as we are not contravening any regulations then we will look at other players. Financially we would be able to do that, however, we are going through a very intense schedule to get these Premiership games played and we are going to be playing Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday by the looks of it three or four times. Nobody knows where we are with the global season and I am just trying to future proof things.”

Leicester are going to hold talks with former Crusaders back row Jordan Taufua who is finishing his quarantine period having travelled back from New Zealand. Geordan Murphy, the Leicester director of rugby, believes Taufua wants to remain at the club while predicting two of the “gang of five” are to sign deals with French clubs.

Leicester expect to lose £5m due to the pandemic lockdown and have made more than 30 staff redundant and Murphy told LTTV: “We stood five players down and asked those guys to stay away from training and give them time to reflect on their actions. Jordan is in a different position and he was in New Zealand and is in quarantine at present. We have communicated with him and he wants to be here and as such we have given him an extra week to have that discussion face to face when he is out of quarantine and work with him. He has indicated that he wants to be here next season and we will give him the due respect of having that conversation face to face.

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“Guys have contracts and we don’t want to talk about monetary values of players and we have tried to be as transparent as possible and it’s a difficult one. We have had this publicised dispute with five players and I have been told that two of those guys have already agreed deals in France.”

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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