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'Twelve weeks in camp was tough, I don't know how I got through it'
Manu Tuilagi shudders at the prospect of another World Cup training camp after retreating to the sofa to recover from England’s march to last autumn’s final.
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Tuilagi is set to continue at outside centre for the Guinness Six Nations opener against France on Sunday in England’s first appearance since losing 32-12 to South Africa in Yokohama.
The 28-year-old Lion revealed in Japan that it would be his final World Cup and he admitted the build-up was brutal.
“Thinking about the training we did beforehand. Twelve weeks in camp was tough, I don’t know how I got through it. To think about doing it again…” he said.
“I played for Leicester the week after I got back from Japan. It was good to get straight back into it. The World Cup was disappointing but it’s gone now.
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RugbyPass recently talked to England and Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi about all things Lions
“Being back with my club helped me, I got back into rugby straight away. But it was strange coming back home after being away for four or five months. I was waking up at half six in the morning thinking we’ve got training when actually there wasn’t. It was enjoyable coming back home to the family – the missus, the little one, the dog.
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“It was nice to take the dog out for a walk, sit on the sofa and just watch TV. That was the best thing. It is just nice to be on the sofa. It’s so good isn’t it? When you get home it’s great. But I can’t sit down for many hours because of my little one.”
Tuilagi was among England’s stars in Japan but he suffered a worrying setback in December that left him fearing “game over”. The Leicester battering ram tweaked an adductor muscle on club duty for December, an injury that brought back memories of the serious groin issue that once threatened his career.
Just one point in the average score in Paris between these two over the last 20 years… #England #France #SixNations pic.twitter.com/PQAjN3QdEg
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 28, 2020
On this occasion, however, he was only forced to miss three games and has since made his comeback. “Game over,” said Tuilagi when asked for his initial reaction when suffering the injury.
“I know my body well now so I have got to listen to it and be honest with the physios and strength and conditioning guys. They’re there to help me and, if I’m honest with them, they’ll be able to do that.
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“When you’re younger you try to play through it all the time, but you’re just making it worse. Now I’d rather sort it out in one week or two weeks instead of four or five months.”
Dombrandt showcased his talents by setting up Danny Care for the opening try of Harlequins' win over Saracens on Sunday.https://t.co/PpciyHJWyW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 27, 2020
Tuilagi is likely to face France’s New Zealand-born powerhouse Virimi Vakatawa on Sunday in a heavyweight duel. “I played him a couple of times. He’s a class player – strong, good feet. I played against him a couple of times at Racing 92 and he’s a handful,” Tuilagi said.
“You think you have tackled him and then he gets an offload away and they’re under the sticks. You never know what the French team are going to bring. We have to be ready for anything.”
– Press Association
WATCH: Schalk Brits tells RugbyPass about his experiences bringing the William Webb Ellis trophy back to South Africa
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments