Tuilagi has time to make World Cup 13 shirt his own
Centre’s return for England is a cause for celebration – but lots of questions still remain
When Manu Tuilagi jogs on to the Twickenham turf today, I do not think anyone will know what to expect. We know what we would like to see – the rampaging Manu of old, the man-mountain who skittled the All Blacks like ninepins in what was one of the finest individual performances I can remember, in 2012.
No one can truly say if Manu will ever be the player he was or whether he is destined to be England’s greatest unfulfilled talent, an unstoppable force of nature whose body could not handle the stress it was under.
For most of the past four years, Tuilagi has existed as little more than a memory and it is quite shocking to realise that his last Test start was in June 2014, against New Zealand. Since then, a series of injuries – most notably a horrendous groin problem – have limited him to 42 appearances for Leicester and just one more cap for his country, a 17-minute cameo against Wales in the 2016 Six Nations.
Yet what is striking about Tuilagi’s story is that so many people still have faith in him, despite the evidence that his best days may be long gone. Eddie Jones clearly thinks if he can get Tuilagi fit and firing, then England will have a genuine world-beater.
If you asked me who in the current England side either is or has the potential to be genuinely world-class then I would say Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, the Vunipola brothers and Manu.
I am still a believer. Whenever I catch a glimpse of him in full flow, in the flesh or on Youtube, I cannot help but get swept up in the excitement. He is huge, quick and a brutal tackler. If he cannot go around you he will go through you. Ben Te’o is in a similar mould, but Manu offers something different.
And now, finally, he has a chance to prove himself. The difficulty will be keeping expectations in check, both for him and the public. When Manu comes on as a substitute, none of us can dare to believe it will be just like 2012 all over again.
Manu is not the same player and he will need time to get up to speed again. Having been there myself, I know you need a minimum 20 minutes to even start to feel right again on the pitch after a serious injury. It is not instantaneous.
But while I might preach caution, I know that the first time Tuilagi gets the ball I will expect him to smash into a couple of Wallabies and set off on one of his trademark rampaging runs that marked him out as such a special talent from an early age. The level of expectation around him today shows how his remarkable achievements in the first part of his career have been both his blessing – no one else would have been indulged this long – and his curse.
It also illustrates how England have failed to properly construct a midfield without him. Since June 2014, England have given starts to 13 different players in the centre and fielded 17 different centre partnerships, a sign of how Stuart Lancaster and Jones have struggled to find the answer. From Sam Burgess to Brad Barritt, Kyle Eastmond to Luther Burrell, so many have come and gone.
The hope is that Manu can make the 13 shirt his own before the World Cup. If there is one lesson coming out of the England camp at present, it is that nothing is set in stone. Mike Brown, Danny Care and Dylan Hartley have been jettisoned and even in the backroom staff, unlikely figures such as John Mitchell and Will Carling have come in to make an impact.
What that shows Manu is that even if he only fully regains fitness a month before the World Cup, there is every chance he will start in Japan. In fact, fitness permitting, I think Te’o and Tuilagi will be the centres against Tonga in that opening game. Good luck running through those two.
For now, Manu can only concentrate on taking it one step at a time. So when he comes on to what should be a deafening roar, I will be telling everyone to calm down and not expect too much too soon. But in my mind’s eye I will be seeing the Manu of 2012 laying waste to defenders all over the pitch.
Welcome back, Manu. We have missed you.