Fresh injury fear for Tuilagi

MANU TUILAGI has been sidelined by another groin injury which will leave England hoping history is not repeating itself. The 28-year-old Leicester centre’s career has been blighted by injuries and he did not start a Test for four and a half years from June 2014. Tuilagi missed the Tigers’ clash with Harlequins at Twickenham five days ago, with the East Midlands club stating he was ‘sitting out’ the fixture. But he has had a scan and is being assessed ahead of Bristol’s visit to Welford Road this weekend. That match comes four weeks before

England open their Six Nations campaign against France in Paris. Leicester’s head coach, Geordan Murphy, said yesterday: ‘Manu had a tight groin last week so we didn’t risk him. We’ll have another look at him this week. He ran yesterday but if it’s (cutting it) too fine for him we won’t risk him.’ Asked if the new injury may be linked to previous ones, Murphy added: ‘I don’t believe so. We had a scan and nothing came up.’