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England's rivals beware...Farrell explains why teammate Tuilagi is 'unique'

Manu Tuilagi in England training
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Co-captain Owen Farrell is excited by what the “unique” Manu Tuilagi brings to England following his return to the squad.

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Powerhouse centre Tuilagi has played just five times for England in the past four years, and not at all since 2016, primarily due to a host of injuries.

However, Tuilagi was recalled for the upcoming November internationals, with head coach Eddie Jones hinting he is close to earning a return to the starting line-up.

The 27-year-old boosted his chances with a superb showing in Leicester Tigers’ European Rugby Champions Cup win over Scarlets last week and Saracens fly-half Farrell has talked up the talents of his international team-mate.

Speaking to the RFU’s official website, Farrell said: “Him [Tuilagi] running in a straight line is difficult to deal with, but it’s not just that with Manu, he’s got subtleties to his game too which makes him even more difficult to stop.

“He’s not just your predictable big bloke that you can tackle low and stop; he is a brilliant line runner, he has good feet, good feel and he’s unbelievably powerful – he showed that against the Scarlets.

“He is pretty unique. Everybody can see that, he’s a game-breaker in terms of making something happen and that is exciting.”

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Watch: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus speaks ahead of South Africa’s year-end tour

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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