Diamond: 'We have had no discussions about Manu Tuilagi'
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
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