Northern | US

Manu Tuilagi 'out for six to eight weeks' in devastating blow for new Top 14 club

England's Manu Tuilagi (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Comments
1 Comment

Former England centre Manu Tuilagi will have to wait before he can debut for new club Bayonne in the Top 14 after he suffered a broken hand in pre-season.

ADVERTISEMENT

Tuilagi brought his international career to an end after 60 appearances earlier this year when he decided to leave Sale and sign for French outfit Bayonne.

The 33-year-old, who suffered a string of injury issues during his 13 years in the England set-up, featured for Bayonne in Saturday’s 42-5 pre-season victory over Biarritz Olympique, but injured his left hand and is set for a spell on the sidelines.

A recovery time of six-to-eight weeks has been predicted by Bayonne, which would rule the ex-Leicester centre out of their Top 14 opener with Perpignan on September 7 and potentially delay his competitive debut until October.

“Following the preparation match against Biarritz Olympique, some players are returning to the infirmary (hospital),” a Bayonne statement read.

“Manu Tuilagi, with a broken hand, will be out for between six and eight weeks.

“We obviously wish a good and speedy recovery to all of our players who are currently unavailable.”

Tuilagi left Sale after their Gallagher Premiership play-off loss to Bath in June.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Close

Planned Maintenance Notice – Log-in

We’ll be carrying out essential maintenance on our login service today. During this time, users will be unable to log in to rugbypass.com, rugbypass.tv and the RugbyPass app.

Date: Wednesday 6 May 2026

Time: 5:00pm – 9:00pm (GMT)

We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we make these improvements.

Thanks,
RugbyPass Team

Copied to clipboard

Share Article close