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'Nothing scarier': Tuilagi backed to do 'special things' vs Ireland
The concept of misfiring England throwing a player who has not played a competitive match for eleven weeks into a Guinness Six Nations clash with Grand Slam champions Ireland would appear reckless. However, when that player is Manu Tuilagi, the Sale Sharks wrecking ball, exceptions can be made.
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That is the view of Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, who has worked closely with Tuilagi, the Sale medical team and the England management to formulate a training regime that takes into account the multitude of injury problems the 32-year-old has dealt with in his career.
Tuilagi’s latest injury was a grade three groin tear suffered in Sale’s 22-20 win over Saracens on December 22 and since then the player has been following a careful recovery and training load plan that he is continuing with England this week.
Tuilagi, who has won 59 caps, was available for selection heading into the 30-21 loss against Scotland in round three. It was a match that featured numerous handling errors by the England back division with Bath’s Ollie Lawrence – chosen ahead of Tuilagi – having a day to forget.
Now, as head coach Steve Borthwick dissects the Scotland loss and regroups his squad in the fallow week leading into the daunting task of trying to deny Ireland a second successive Grand Slam on March 9 at Twickenham, he has to weigh up the pros and cons of recalling Tuilagi.
Sanderson is convinced Tuilagi would cope with the long lay-off and said: “There is nothing scarier than a smiling Manu Tuilagi and he has an ability to go into a big occasion and relish it. He is a game-breaker and the more time Manu is able to put a shoulder into someone’s solar plexus the more good things will happen. I have no doubt he will do special things.
“When he gets onto the pitch he is at that state of assertiveness, he is up for it rather than just getting through it and that is his mental capacity. He can take on the challenge and be in the right spot emotionally and that sets him apart from most people.
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“Getting over injuries comes with maturity and this isn’t his first rodeo. When you talk to him about it he says ‘that’s life’ and I get more gutted than him. His attitude is what can you do and he has this ability to reframe it quickly. For some people it takes months in rehab and then when they get back it is weeks to get confidence back and he is not one of them. He thinks ‘what is the worst that could happen?’ He could get injured again but has been down that road a million times.
“There are bigger motivating factors in Manu’s life than just performing and that frees you up because he is highly loved, has his family and friends and all these things count more to him. You don’t really get that with a younger player who doesn’t really have that kind of support structure. It’s not novel for him to be in this position and has a good understanding physically and knows they won’t put him on the pitch anymore if he is an injury risk.
“He has been put here in the past because if you tell Manu to jump he will just say how high. That has changed and he understands the metres and the loading he needs to put in to be able to perform at the highest level and that has taken some years in gathering. It’s almost been trial and error.
“Manu has experience and has been there and done it before. The biggest factor in players being able to play free is generally stress. The factors contributing to stress are firstly if it is novel and new to you or secondly a threat to your existence. Having a bad game and being dropped is ‘existence’ in a rugby sense and getting injured. With Manu none of it is novel because he has been there many times before.
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“I would say, at this point in this career, he is such a collected and grounded individual that he is one of the freest people you could meet. Everything is going to be all right.”
Sanderson takes comfort from the fact that when Tuilagi is with England the input from Sale in terms of workload the player should be undertaking is clearly understood. Everyone is now singing from the same hymn sheet which hasn’t always been the case.
He added: “I have spoken to Richard Hill [England team manager] and Manu is carving it up in training. He only did two sessions with us before he went into the England camp and looked really good, energetic and delighted to get the ball in his hands. He hits the deck running and we wouldn’t load him up through the sessions because we know he would over-push himself. He is such a powerful athlete; Manu comes back in with the same fitness as when he left in terms of conditioning and that is different to other people.
“I remember every meeting was a case of whose fault was it [that he got injured] and there was obvious misalignment [with England] and we had to get better at managing him. There has been an increase in communication between ourselves and England over the years and now there is absolute clarity.
“There are loads of ways to run a squad and England have always raised intensity from Premiership weeks because they have a short season and higher intensity at international level. You wouldn’t be up to scratch with Premiership loading but you couldn’t train at that intensity for 11 months.
“Manu’s intensity of training is the same across both, which wasn’t the case previously. Now we load him up going into camp and they de-load him.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
220 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
16 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
220 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
220 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to commentsEverywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
47 Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
16 Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
47 Go to commentsLove watching
1 Go to commentsThe Melbourne Rebels lineout is a complete disaster so not surprisingly a kiwi coach of the Wallabies hires the worst lineout coach in the country and a foreigner to boot. No surprises whatsoever here…….
6 Go to commentsThank your for wasting 2 minutes of my life Daniel. There is a useful message in there somewhere but your delivery sucks.
7 Go to commentsBen Smith, you are cry baby
220 Go to commentsSux that homophobia is still a thing though. I wonder how many players who could have become legends never kept playing rugby because they felt unwelcome.
7 Go to commentsCrazy he’s only 28, feel like he’s been around forever - don’t mind the move, safe pair of hands and creates depth in a thin position for ABs. Hopefully aides Kemara’s growth also without thrusting too much responsibility on him
1 Go to commentsMen should show strength and be mean, but they should be able to show emotion to those close yo them in certain times, birth of your child, death of family, proud moment. This article is stupid
7 Go to commentsWhat a weak article…absolute drivel and clickbait, well done. Will stick to rugby365 thanks
7 Go to commentsHonest, discipline, humility… Priceless.
2 Go to commentsSo many excuses. No mention of the SA number 2 being taken out illegally in the 2nd minute. That act of foul play had a massive impact on the SA game. Face it, NZ play pretty dirty very regularly, and it’s only since 2016 they’ve been held to higher officiating standards via stricter officiating and TMO reviews. They deserved to have a man down. Sorry. Fix the yellow and red cards and NZ will win more RWCs. Plus, there WAS a knock on invalidating the one try, so it was NOT a try. Period. Here’s a Kleenex…
220 Go to commentsOverheard conversation between NZ and SA rugby fans everywhere: We’re the greatest! No! we’re the greatest! We’re the greatest! No we’re the greatest! Ireland are arrogant! True but they beat you! We’re the greatest! No! we’re the greatest! Etc. etc, etc.
47 Go to comments