The Posolo Tuilagi verdict on becoming an U20s viral sensation

Gentle giants is the description for the phalanx of Tuilagi brothers whose physicality and subtle ball skills have lit up professional rugby for quite some time. The five oldest of the rugby-playing brothers have represented Samoa, with the 1991-born Manu still strutting his stuff with England.

Now comes the next-generation French connection, the 18-year-old Posolo who is the son of Henry, the 1971-born, 10-cap Samoan who finished his club career with a seven-season stint at Perpignan after initially arriving in Europe to play for Leicester.

That branch of the family remained living in France when Henry’s playing career ended and its legacy is that Posolo, who started in six of his 16 Top 14/Challenge Cup appearances in his breakthrough 2022/23 season, is now packing an age-grade punch with the French U20s, an impact that has reverberated around the world this past week.

We gave U20 New Zealand rugby players cameras and let them do whatever they want | Fuel Me

We gave U20 New Zealand rugby players cameras and let them do whatever they want | Fuel Me

He was late arriving in South Africa due to a visa issue, but he has since made his presence felt, blitzing New Zealand with a two-try man of the match display in the Paarl rain and mud last Thursday and following that up with another encouraging contribution on Tuesday in the very windy but sunny conditions versus Wales at Athlone.

Next up for the French is England in the semi-finals next Sunday, a match that comes just weeks before the teenage Tuilagi’s 19th birthday on July 28. The exploits of the 145kg giant have resulted in him becoming in a viral sensation.

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For instance, an Instagram post of the short post-game interview he did with RugbyPass after he had swatted aside the Baby Blacks clocked up more than a quarter of a million views in a couple of days and there were also high numbers for the same interview footage published on the various other social media platforms.

Tuilagi amenably dropped by again post-game on Tuesday to provide another update on how his tournament has gone and he was chuffed to learn about his sudden online popularity. “I don’t know, I don’t really go too much on social media, I don’t really watch all that. Hopefully it is good stuff. Thank you, thank you to everyone,” he beamed.

France, who won the two most recent editions of the Junior World Championship in 2018 and 2019, ended the pool section at this year’s tournament in Cape Town with an unblemished 15-point, three-wins-from-three record. That secured them the No1 ranking for this weekend’s knockout stages and Tuilagi is hoping this class of 2023 can now kick on and fulfil their potential.

“Very proud,” he said after the Welsh had been defeated 43-19 by a French XV that played most of the match with just 14 players following the upgrading of an early yellow card to red. They even finished the contest with just 13 players after another yellow card, but the still managed to score their sixth try despite this two-man disadvantage.

“We played a good team. Wales were very active, very hard at the contact. But it’s about winning and we did. The team had a good structure in place and we were able to find our spot. We are very confident in the team and in the boys that we have. I was confident.

“We are going to take it [the semi-final versus England] as any other game getting ready for it and everyone will just show up for the game and we will see from there.”

How does he rate his own World Cup form? “I have only played two games because I came a bit late. The first one (I was) very happy but there is still lots to work on. My family keeps saying they are proud of me and people have taken me to heart. I want to say thank you to them guys.”