RFU snub Jones plan to prevent Tuilagi exile
MANU TUILAGI’S England future now depends on an offer from a Premiership club as Eddie Jones’s vision of a central contract solution appears to be a non-starter.
Sources have told Sportsmail that the England coach asked his RFU employers if they could intervene to ensure that Tuilagi remains in the country after being stood down by Leicester — leaving the 29-year-old centre on the brink of an exit from the club.
Jones has long coveted greater control over his leading Test players and is thought to favour the principle of a centralised, union-funded contract system, as exists in many other leading rugby nations.
In the case of Tuilagi such a proposal would have clear merit, given the player’s record of injury setbacks.
With a large number of Tests due from October this year through to the end of the Six Nations next March, followed by an end-of-season Lions tour, there would be logic in Jones being able to manage Tuilagi’s training and playing load.
However, the RFU apparently have no desire to pursue a central contracts arrangement, which would have the potential to destabilise precarious clubcountry relations.
It is understood that even an emergency, temporary bid to pay Tuilagi from union funds to guarantee that he is not lured abroad is unlikely. The RFU are facing major financial losses and issuing one central contract could create a divisive precedent.
Meanwhile, Tuilagi’s former England midfield partner, Brad Barritt, has confirmed he will not sign for another Premiership club after his final season at Saracens, saying: ‘I wouldn’t consider playing for another UK team.’
Instead, the 33-year-old may end up back in South Africa, playing for one of the provincial sides against the Lions next summer. ‘Who knows?’ he said. ‘I haven’t ruled it out.’