Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
JONNY INSPIRES MANU COMEBACK
MANU TUILAGI credits Jonny Wilkinson with helping him to believe he would return to rugby better than ever.
Leicester’s wrecking-ball centre is back where he dreamed of during those long, lonely spells on the sidelines.
Back starting and finishing matches, back scoring tries, back in the England squad.
“I’ve not seen him with as much energy and acceleration in a long time,” said England head coach Eddie Jones. “He looks really good.” Tuilagi, 27, lines up at Welford Road tomorrow outside England half-backs Ben Youngs and George Ford. Opponents Worcester will not sleep well.
Tuilagi has become a first-time dad, but life has not been so sweet on the pitch since a damaged chest muscle sparked five pretty much unbroken years of misery. “You always say you will get back, but you have a lot of dark days,” he admitted. “My nature is to think there will be light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s been tough.” During those “dark days” he looked around for reasons to believe he had not used up all his good fortune playing in a World Cup aged 20 before becoming a Test Lion at 22. As his body succumbed to groin, hamstring and repeated knee problems he was drawn to the example of Wilkinson, who overcame a four-year block of injury to reclaim former glories.
“I looked at Jonny and his comebacks and, yeah, it gave me hope,” said Tuilagi, who also saw sports psychologist Matt Thombs. “I just hope it will be like that for me!”
He even visited a witch doctor in Samoa, who removed evil spirits from him. “It is hard to believe,” he added. “But she said, ‘It is done’ – I believe it is.”