Steve Diamond reveals Manu Tuilagi was being chased by 'three or four' clubs
Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond today revealed “three or four” clubs had tried to sign Manu Tuilagi. The England international has joined the Sharks on the same financial terms as the rest of the squad, who have agreed temporary 25 per cent pay cuts.
Tuilagi has signed a deal which means he can help second-placed Sale’s bid for the Gallagher Premiership title when the current campaign restarts next month, and will also be part of the club for the 2020-21 season, which could begin as soon as November.
By staying in England rather than opting for a deal in France or Japan, Tuilagi also remains available to Eddie Jones, the England head coach, and for the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa next year.
Tuilagi was one of five Leicester players who refused to sign new reduced-term contracts with the club, including Kyle Eastmond, Greg Bateman, Noel Reid and Telusa Veainu. Tuilagi has become the third to find a new club with Veainu off to Stade Francais while Reid is set to join Agen.
A week ago Diamond made it clear that while Sale were not, at that point, talking to Tuilagi, they would have room in their salary cap to accommodate the player.
He said: “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.”
First contact with Tuilagi’s agent was made last week and discussions with the player and Leicester took place on Friday which confirmed the England centre was a free agent and could sign for a rival Premiership outfit.
Diamond told RugbyPass today he would like Tuilagi to stay longer, stating: “We made sure Manu was a free agent – which he was – and there were three or four other clubs who were talking to him, including abroad, and I just painted a picture for him of the next 12 months and they are really important to Sale and him with his England and Lions career.
“I said let’s get through the year and not look any further and see where we are. Let’s be honest, if a big money offer came after the Lions tour when he is 30 he might take that.
“We have also talked about extending this deal and Manu is a quiet lad and he just wants to play and we will look after him.
“He will fit like a hand in glove with our lot and the first people to welcome him were Jono Ross, the skipper, Marland Yard and Denny Solomona.”
Three years ago Solomona and Tuilagi were sent home from a pre-season England training camp by a furious Eddie Jones following a drunken night out.
“Manu and Denny have a bit of a reputation from then and I told them they can only go to those bars in future if I get an invite!” added Diamond.
BREAKING: Manu Tuilagi is officially a Sale Sharks player. https://t.co/a2EUYxnbEu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 13, 2020
“Manu signed for us at 10am today and will link up with the squad tomorrow although we will run him through the COVID-19 testing protocols.
“I said to the squad as a whole that we have been through the dark times of everyone taking a pay cut, but that doesn’t stop us bringing people in and players like Manu don’t come around very often.
“Manu has come in on the same terms as the rest of the squad.”
Diamond knows the signing of Tuilagi will attract flak given the number of high-profile South African players brought in, headed by World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager, but he will turn a deaf ear to the criticism.
IT'S OFFICIAL ?@Manutuilagi is a @SaleSharksRugby player ?
Could he be the man to lead them to a #GallagherPrem title? ?
Read all about it ? https://t.co/5gs9jk7B8b pic.twitter.com/94V0JUpxhB
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) July 13, 2020
“Other clubs needs to worry about themselves, and in the days of austerity when I had to operate on 50 per cent of what everyone else (was spending) nobody cared that they were hand-picking (players) from my academy when they were 22-years-old,” he said.
“The reason I didn’t confirm anything about Manu was until 10 am this morning I hadn’t had the signed document.
“I told him to have a think about things over the weekend and to see me at 8.30am and he texted me a few things, like where to live, and turned up and signed. He will view a couple of houses and come back tomorrow.”
Diamond revealed he contacted his other midfield players to confirm they would be joined by Tuilagi and reported the response was a collective “brilliant” from Sam Hill, who joined from Exeter, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and the James brothers Luke and Sam.
Diamond added: “I spoke to the senior playing group and told them this is what I was doing and then rang the players in that position out of politeness. The response was brilliant.
Telusa Veainu has opened up about his exit from Welford Road.https://t.co/XhrMGjURnr
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 13, 2020
“If we can attempt to win something over the next 12 months then all that we have gone through will be worthwhile.
“Over the next three months it will be the team that manages the rest best that will win it.
“We have to cater for all circumstances and we might get a case of COVID-19. I look at a lot of football and before the shutdown Leicester City were the best team after Liverpool but haven’t played well since they came back and I don’t want be in that situation.”
Sale will return to action after the lockdown against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop on August 14 in a game that was already slated for television coverage.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments