Tuilagi back with his big hits and high hopes
Leicester .............. 40pts Ospreys ................ 14pts
MANU Tuilagi came through his first start since New Year’s Day to give himself a chance of appearing in the Premiership opener next Sunday at home to Bath.
Tuilagi produced his trademark mixture of speedy bursts and big hits in a first half appearance when the Tigers demolished a depleted Ospreys squad to lead 26-0.
Head coach Matt O’Connor described Tuilagi, who has recovered from a knee injury, as a “bit rusty” though still conceded his performance was likely to put him in contention for Bath.
O’Connor, perhaps, was trying to play down the interest in the 25-year-old who has lost none of his zest for those big hits including one which left James Hook wincing.
“We will have to see,” O’Connor said in wanting to give little away about plans. “It was his first hit out for a long time. He looked OK and showed that he’s a handful. All things considered he should be available next week.”
Tuilagi was part of a new star-studded backline which was fielded in public for the first time.
The prospect of halfbacks Ben Youngs and George Ford supplying Tuilagi and ex-Wallaby Matt Toomua plus wing Jonny May and full-back Telusa Veainu will be a huge crowd puller.
To back up those names was Tom Brady, the former Sale wing, who scored one of the six tries while the impressive May contributed two and Toomua, also back from long-term injury, one.
Leicester’s biggest problem will be delivering enough quality possession to give such talent, led by the creativity of Ford at fly half, the proper opportunity.
Even in this pre-season friendly Tigers showed their strength and weakness. They played some excellent rugby in the first half, scoring four tries without reply, but struggled to maintain that hold at the start of the second.
Ospreys, without their leading players, scored
twice through fit-again Canadian wing Jeff Hassler and centre Cory Allen.
Leicester, backed up by a wave of strong substitutes, finished off by scoring two further tries through Jonah Holmes and Charlie Thacker.
The second-half performance by Ospreys gave head coach Steve Tandy some positives from an evening when the first half was a brutal defence session.
Tandy said he had become frustrated in the first half at one or two decisions of referee Matt Carley and had to be shepherded away at the interval after remonstrating with the officials.
“It was a tough first half when we slipped off too many tackles but our set piece was much better than it has been,” he said. “Overall, you can’t give such a powerful team a head start.”
Among the Ospreys squad was a new recruit in flanker Simon Cross, the Wales Sevens player, who played a 20-minute spell in the second half.
Tandy reported that Dan Biggar should be back in training next week while fellow Lion Rhys Webb aims to make his seasonal debut at the end of September.