‘My chores as a child meant walking barefoot through a plantation to find coconuts’
Tuilagi is deeply proud of his Samoan roots, but is desperate to win the World Cup for England
‘Friday was only weekday we could play rugby – any other and you got a hiding’
Manu Tuilagi is the child of Samoa who became a proud Englishman. The Tigers centre has proved his Red Rose credentials since moving to join his clan of brothers in Leicester as a 13-yearold, and, even though his sole focus in Japan will be to help generate a far better World Cup experience than he managed in and around the previous two editions, there will always be a core of him that is rooted in Samoa. How could it be otherwise when his upbringing was so particular, so authentic, so rooted in the soil?
“Those days are very special in my memory,” Tuilagi tells The Daily Telegraph. “It gives me warmth and strength thinking about them. Our village and the two villages alongside would have competitions between us all the time because you all knew each other from the same school. You’d walk over to the next village to issue the challenge. It was always full-on rugby, rounders and football, too.
“It started from when you were about eight years old. Kids out there have a lot of freedom. Just as long as your mum and dad knew roughly where you were, it was fine. We’d get a plastic bottle and fill it with dried grass. You had to make sure you kicked the middle bit as the ends were rock hard. If you missed the end of it, you’d break your foot.”
It was not all fun and games for the young Tuilagi. Much as there was freedom to roam, there were family responsibilities to tend to, no matter his age.
“Yeah, you had to do your chores first,” chuckles Tuilagi. “Go get the coconuts. Go get the firewood. You’d drop your uniform off. You didn’t dare get that muddy and make your mum unhappy. You’d get sweaty and ruin your school clothes. That was Monday to Thursday. Friday was the only weekday we were allowed to play rugby as it was the last day of the school week. If they caught you playing on the other days, it was a proper hiding. The stick and all
that. So, you’d come home, uniform off, walk out, no flip-flops, bare feet, walking through the plantation, coconuts, big logs.
“You carried it all on your shoulders. You had to find the ripe coconut on the floor, not the one hanging up in the tree, as they’re not ripe. The one on the floor is the best. You can eat it, drink it, use the husk to start a fire. We had to do that every day. We had pigs and chickens, too. They also liked a bit of coconut.
“You’d have a special trip for firewood for the big meal on Sundays, like you have a roast dinner here. The Samoan dish is umu. You cook the food in the rocks, put the meat inside, mostly pig. A good size. Samoan culture is all about family. And food! Never forget the food. If the Islanders get together and the party was generally good, the music was good, the drink was good but the food was rubbish, then the whole day would be rubbish. It is all about the food.
“England is very special to me, of course, but my heart and home is still Samoa.”
Tuilagi owes himself, as well as his family and fans, a good World Cup. He was an immature 20-yearold at the 2011 event in New Zealand, bringing a wretched tournament for England to a suitably ignominious conclusion with a headlong dive off a ferry into Auckland Harbour for which he was arrested. The same fate befell him prior to the 2015 World Cup, when he was convicted of a late-night assault and ruled out of consideration by Stuart Lancaster.
Tuilagi is injury-free, happy and settled. He appreciates the support he has been shown, be it at Leicester or the country at large. From the time he arrived as a wide-eyed boy to the backing he got over a visa when threatened with expulsion and the care at Leicester during his long spells of rehabilitation, Tuilagi is deeply appreciative of his home-fromhome. “It was hard coming to England at such a young age even though my brothers were here,” said Tuilagi. “I didn’t speak English. I arrived in December. It was freezing, although I grew to love the smell of winter, the dying leaves, the damp in the air. I came on a six-month holiday visa to begin with. That was the Queen’s gift to us as Samoans. I went to school but couldn’t understand much. It got to make-or-break point with my papers but it got sorted. Tigers is like family to me.
“And now? I’ve been given this opportunity and it is up to me to make the most of it and help England to try and win a World Cup. Everyone in Samoa will be watching. I am going to give it everything I’ve got.”