MANU A MOUNTAIN
WHEN Manu Tuilagi walked off the pitch, having strained every sinew in his body, he clasped his hands in prayer and looked up at the night sky.
This was the moment most people never thought would arrive for the happy-go-lucky lad from Samoa. During his darkest days, the centre thought he would never play rugby again, let alone score for England in a World Cup semi-final victory over the All Blacks.
There were weeks and months when he was written off as England’s great unfulfilled talent, cast off by injuries and run-ins with the law. But when he crashed over to score after just 96 seconds, memories of that Auckland ferry jump, giving David Cameron bunny ears in a photo-call outside No10 and various boozefuelled nights out all faded into history.
‘It’s beyond my dreams, this,’ said the Pacific Islander with a Leicester accent. ‘It’s an unbelievable feeling. it was amazing to get through to the semis. Standing here now and we’re in the final. I thank God. Thank God.’
Religion has never been far from Tuilagi’s side. In Samoa, his surname translates to the Son of Earth and High Heavens. His Christian name, meanwhile, translates to Fearless Warrior.
With his baby daughter, Leilani, he is a regular at a Roman Catholic c hurch in Leicester on Sunday mornings. Only his wildest hopes and prayers would be to run out in a
World Cup final. He also pinned his faith on a spiritual doctor in Samoa, who helped chase away ‘evil lady spirits’ to overcome years’ worth of injuries. There were days when he would strap himself up to hide away from the glare of medical staff, who were all too often the bearers of bad news. But from the moment England stood up here and enveloped the haka, Tuilagi ripped in and set the tone with the very first carry of the game. All those hours on the medical bed were banished to the past.
He was mobbed by team-mates when he won a key turnover on the stroke of half-time — and barely had the energy to stand by the time he was subbed after 74 minutes.
‘I was just trying to hang on, hang in there,’ he said, his mantra ‘when it gets tough’.
He added: ‘We just keep focused and carry on, get your second wind and that way you get through it. Against the All Blacks, it’s never done until the final whistle. It doesn’t matter how many points you’re ahead, you can never take your foot off the gas. We gave it everything we’ve got.’