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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.
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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.
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.
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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.”
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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.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Not sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
25 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
2 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
2 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
2 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
12 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
32 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
32 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
5 Go to commentsThe real deal.
5 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
21 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
12 Go to comments“While a red card will mean a temporary team disadvantage, the replacement system will focus punishment on the offending player instead of disrupting the game itself.” This might work for amateur rugby, where players just want to be on the pitch for as long as possible, but hopefully we’ve got to a point where top level professionals care about the success of their team much more than about whether they personally are on the pitch or not.
12 Go to commentsa lot of focus on the targeting of south africa, but aspects of this are positive. The croc roll; the offside law; and time limits on set pieces are all good. calling for a mark off kick offs is baffling, but I guess we’ll see how it plays out in practice
32 Go to commentsSpeeding the game up is great, but I think we will find that the increase in viewership this year mostly comes down to the competition being more competitive…the fall of the Crusaders has been a boon for viewership. This should be at the heart of super rugby changes - how to make the comp more even
25 Go to commentsThe fact that the press were largely to blame for his taking a break is nothing short of disgusting. He’s made a few mistakes but difficult to name a player of any substance who gives it a full go hasn’t also made mistakes? On behalf of a large number of Bokke fans, bring back Farrell !!!!!
2 Go to commentsPSTD is a fantastic flanker. He could benefit from a bit of self-promotion / flair and he is not quite the danger man that Ardie is. That said, he is my 1st pick to build a backrow around. His speed and hustle made up for Duane who got quite a bit slower at the 8.
5 Go to commentssurprised, disco lights haven't been banned by world rugby board
32 Go to commentsToo many changes. Too often. I’m tired of this WR administration. How do we vote these fockers out? Bill needs to go.
32 Go to commentsDu Toit, 2 time W.Cup winner yet rarely mentioned a “Great “…if one looks back on his stellar carrier perhaps someone will one day elevate him to “Richie” status…a quiet, polite yet devastating loose forward that knew action speaks louder than words..
5 Go to comments