MANU DREAMING OF THE WORLD KIP

With a nod to France, Tuilagi discovers healing power of sleep

MANU TUILAGI claims he has discovered the key to living his World Cup dream – spending more time asleep.

England’s injury-prone centre is firing on all cylinders again for club Sale after his latest spell on the sidelines.

He has returned armed with a belief that more kip is the secret to staving off injury in his quest to play in a third World Cup next year.

The Eureka moment came in a conversation with his wife Chantelle, who told him bluntly: “You’re an athlete, you’ve got to sleep”.

She was responding to his admission that whilst on England duty he “never used to get to sleep” and would then wake only half an hour before the start of training.

“I used to sleep really late,” Tuilagi said. “Wake 20 to 30 minutes before we had the walk-throughs and then you get into training.

“As an athlete sometimes you get too excited, just want to be out there on the field, and ignore what your body is telling you.

“You’ve got to listen to it. Because if your body says no, you can’t do anything.” After he injured a hamstring in England training in February, Chantelle told her husband he needed to take ownership of it and be honest with himself “because only you know what’s happened”.

Manu reflected: “I looked at myself, what I do off the pitch and really focused on more recovery. After training, sauna, hot and cold, and sleep.

“Sleep is a big thing for me. For an athlete you need at least seven hours because the mental side of the game is more important than the physical side. The game is so physical nowadays, but if your mind is stronger, mentally, nothing can stop you. I never used to sleep. I feel good now.”

It would be unwise to imagine Tuilagi, who turns 31 next week, has closed the book on the injury years with the World Cup in France 16 months away.

The abrasive way in which he plays the game makes it an occupational hazard. It has restricted him to 47 caps in 11 years.

Yet, despite the obvious disappointment of Sale’s quarter-final loss to Racing on Sunday, the spring was back in his step in Paris where he scored a cracking try.

“I felt good, yeah, I played for the full 80 minutes, no problem,” Tuilagi said afterwards. “I enjoyed it, really enjoyed it.

“I am really thankful for the injuries I have come through because you can only learn from the tough times.

“You can’t learn from someone else’s mistakes because you don’t feel it.”