Wolfpack hunting big money deal for Tuilagi

MANU TUILAGI is in line for a mega-deal from Super League newcomers Toronto Wolfpack that would allow him to rejoin Leicester Tigers to finish his rugby career.

After signing All Blacks legend Sonny Bill Williams on a £5million two-year deal, Toronto’s big-spending owner David Argyle is in the market for Tuilagi.

‘I know David is talking to Manu’s people,’ said Toronto coach Brian McDermott. ‘He hasn’t spoken to Manu but with his representatives, and it’s where it was with Sonny to start with — it’s not a no. I would be interested in a very good rugby player, for sure.

‘But the same rules apply and we would have to work out where he would fit into us as a club and as a team.’

The Samoan-born star, who was a key player for England at the World Cup in Japan, agreed new terms that tie him to bottom-placed Premiership club Leicester until June 2021.

But Toronto hope to pay off the remainder of his contract and structure a deal that would give him the chance to return to Welford Road in two or three years’ time.

Significantly, Super League rules allow clubs with sufficient funds to bring in players who have not previously played professional rugby league without it impacting on the salary cap for the first year of their contract.

Tuilagi joined Leicester’s academy as a teenager. Sources close to the England centre have confirmed he is interested in an immediate switch of codes.

THE Rugby Football League will not rush into a decision over coach Wayne Bennett’s future after his British Lions were humiliated 28-10 by Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby yesterday.

The Lions will return home having lost all four of their matches, but the governing body said in a statement: ‘We are obviously bitterly disappointed by the results of the Test matches. An objective review of all aspects of the tour will take place when the tour party returns and that timetable has not altered.’

Bennett, whose contract is up for renewal, said: ‘Tonight is not a good night to make decisions.’