Steve Diamond's thinly-veiled barb at Leicester over Manu Tuilagi
Steve Diamond insists his “direct mentality” sealed the deal for England centre Manu Tuilagi to join Sale after leaving Leicester. British and Irish Lions star Tuilagi left boyhood club Leicester earlier this month after rejecting a 25 per cent salary reduction due to the coronavirus impact and he has since signed for Sale.
The 29-year-old kept his England career alive by staying on home soil, moving to Manchester having left Tigers in acrimonious circumstances as a free agent due to effective contract breaches.
Sale rugby director Diamond has revealed he did not need to give Tuilagi any big sell, hinting in a thinly-veiled barb at Leicester that the Samoa-born powerhouse was relieved in comparison by his uncomplicated approach.
“We had very little conversation, I spoke to him on the Friday once I learned he was a free agent,” Diamond told BT Sport. “And I just gave him some clarity of where we were going and what I wanted from him. And that I certainly wanted more than nine games, which was his average number of games for Leicester.
“We talked about how we would do that and our driver is to get him playing for England like he does, but also playing very well for us and hopefully he gets on the Lions tour. So not a lot of pressure, just an arm round his shoulder. I told him that we’ll make him feel welcome and we’ll look after him.
"He said I'm not speaking to anyone else, I want to come to Sale."
"I got my pen out very quickly!"
Steve Diamond reveals that Manu Tuilagi did not need much convincing to join @SaleSharksRugby ?
Exciting times. #RugbyReturns pic.twitter.com/jLYWEzCIfn
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) July 24, 2020
“He sat down in our office and said, ‘After our conversation on Friday I’m not speaking to anybody else, I want to come to Sale’. So I got my pen out very quickly! To be fair, I have about 30 other people who do the selling for me in the other players.
“Word gets around how we look after lads, the facilities are second to none. My style really isn’t showing them round the gym, they are all very similar. It’s all about the communication really, what his role is, what I want out of him. He liked that direct mentality – something I think he’d been missing.”
Leicester insisted they were forced into drastic cost-cutting measures to offset the coronavirus impact, making 31 redundancies across club staff earlier this month. Players were asked to take salary cuts and those who refused opted to leave, including Tuilagi, Kyle Eastmond and Telusa Veainu.
In confirming the departures, including that of Tuilagi, Leicester chief executive Andrea Pinchen said: “The majority of people are going down that path with us and a handful couldn’t.”
Tuilagi is already training with Sale and will be available for the Sharks’ tilt at the Premiership title when the delayed season resumes on August 14. Premiership clubs can straight away field new signings who would not have featured until next season after the current campaign was suspended during lockdown.
Tuilagi has signed at Sale until the end of the 2020/21 season, with Diamond admitting he told the wrecking-ball midfielder that he wants him to feature regularly in Sharks colours. The potent centre battled a string of groin and knee issues at Leicester, but he has been free of those issues for some time and Sale could be poised to reap the benefit.
“The most crucial thing for me was not pressurising him into signing a long-term contract, just see the year out, perform at your best,” said Diamond. “If you play as you can do and he gets on the Lions tour and he plays for England and does well for us, then he becomes a very valuable commodity.
“We’ll do everything we can to keep him, but that will be his last contract really so he’s got freedom really to do what he wants. There’s not much in the game that he hasn’t achieved at that stage.”
BOD takes his liking of England to new heights https://t.co/dDRuDJAY6X
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 24, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
The World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
1 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
2 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
19 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments