Etuale Manusamoa Tuilagi (born 18 May 1991), known as Manu Tuilagi, is a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
player for
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...
. He has played internationally for and the
British & Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
.
Born in
Fogapoa,
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, Tuilagi has five elder brothers who played for Samoa. He qualified for England through residency, having moved there at the age of 12, and in 2014 became a British citizen.
He has won 43 caps between 2011 and 2020, including playing in the
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...
and starting in the
2019 Rugby World Cup Final
The 2019 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match played on 2 November 2019 at the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. It marked the culmination of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and was played between England and South Africa, a re ...
. He played for the Lions on their
2013 tour to Australia, winning one cap. His usual position is
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
.
Early life
Tuilagi was born on 18 May 1991 in
Fogapoa,
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
. He is the younger brother of
Freddie,
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
,
Alesana
Alesana ( ) is an American post-hardcore band from Raleigh, North Carolina. The group was founded by Shawn Milke, Dennis Lee and Patrick Thompson during the fall of 2004, and is currently signed to Revival Recordings and Artery Recordings. Alesa ...
,
Anitelea and
Sanele Vavae Tuilagi
Sanele Vavae Tuilagi (born 15 June 1988) is a Samoan professional rugby player. Sanele is the younger brother of former and current n internationals Henry, Freddie, Alesana, Anitelea Tuilagi and the older brother of international Manu Tuilag ...
, all of whom are Samoan internationals and also played for Leicester. He has another sibling, Julie, who is
fa'afafine. He was named Manusamoa, after the name of the Samoan national team, Manu Samoa, because his brother Freddie was selected for Samoa at the World Cup in 1991, the year Manu was born.
He moved to the UK to join his brothers, and began playing youth rugby in 2004 with
Rumney RFC while living in Cardiff, when his brother Freddie was playing for the Cardiff Blues. Aged 15, he moved back to Leicester, joining the Leicester Tigers academy.
In June 2010, Tuilagi faced possible deportation from the UK after it became known that he had entered the country on a
holiday visa six years earlier and had stayed on illegally. After an appeal, he was later granted indefinite leave to remain. He and his brother Alesana are both
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Club career
Leicester Tigers
Tuilagi represented Leicester in the
Middlesex Sevens The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at Twickenham stadium in London, England until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot.Bath, ''Scotland Rugby Miscellany'', p82 Th ...
at
Twickenham
Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
in 2009.
On 6 November 2009, Tuilagi played for Leicester Tigers against at
Welford Road. Leicester won 22–17.
He began his first season, 2010–11, with the senior Tigers side. Tigers Director of Rugby
Richard Cockerill
Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player, he was the national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick. He played as a hooker, spending the majority of his career at ...
said that he expected Tuilagi to be a first-team regular and to play for before long. During this season he started the majority of games for Tigers and was called up for England Saxons duty. In Leicester's Premiership semi-final against
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...
on 14 May 2011, Tuilagi received a yellow card for punching
Chris Ashton
Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is an English rugby union and former rugby league player, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. A wing or fullback, he joined Leicester Tigers of Premiersh ...
. Tuilagi was later cited for this offence and given a 10-week ban, later reduced to five weeks.
Tuilagi started the 2013 Premiership final and scored a try as Leicester defeated Northampton Saints.
After injuring his hamstring in late 2014, Manu did not play for the Tigers again until January 2016, making his comeback off the bench in the 30–27 East Midlands derby win over Northampton Saints. He played for the rest of the 2015/16 season. However, his injury problems continued and he was sidelined for most of the 2016/17 season with knee problems, making his comeback in the first game of the 2017/18, only to suffer a new injury to his other knee. In a bid to cure his injury problems Tuilagi visited a Samoan
witch doctor
A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor) was originally a type of Folk healer, healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is now more commonly used to refer to Alternative medicine, healers, particularly in region ...
in November 2017, the witch doctor claimed to have found three spirits had married Tuilagi and were causing the injuries, and massaged Tuilagi for two hours a day for four days to block the spirits. On 10 July 2020, Tuilagi left Leicester Tigers after failing to agree a reduced wage package, amid the financial challenges caused to the club by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sale Sharks
On 13 July 2020, Tuilagi agreed to join
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...
on a one-year deal until the end of the 2020-21 season. He has since extended his contract for a further two seasons.
International career
Tuilagi said he would prefer to play internationally for , where he had grown up and played all of his rugby. He was selected to start the
England Saxons
England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...
game against Italy 'A' in January 2011, scoring a second-half try in a match which England won 45–17. In June 2011 he was named in England's training squad for the
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...
.
In addition, Tuilagi has been involved with the
England Sevens
The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...
squad. In May 2010 he played for an England seven which won the London Floodlit Sevens, playing under the name 'Dig Deep England'.
On 6 August 2011, he made his England début in the World Cup warm-up match against Wales at Twickenham. As one of the starting XV, he scored a try in the 44th minute underneath the posts after an inside pass from
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player. A Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and RC Toulonnais, Toulon and represente ...
. He then played in the third warm-up game, a victory over Ireland, and scored again. He was a regular starter during the World Cup. One of his strongest international performances came in the final match of the
2012 Autumn internationals, against the World Cup winners
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at Twickenham. England won 38–21 – their largest ever winning margin over the All Blacks. Tuilagi featured in all three of England's tries.
Tuilagi was named in the Lions squad for their
2013 tour to Australia. He played against
Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...
,
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...
and
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...
, and also played in the third test against
the Wallabies
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...
, when he came on as a substitute in the 69th minute.
Tuilagi returned to the England squad in March 2016 for the
2016 Six Nations Championship
The 2016 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2016 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by The Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 17th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship.
I ...
after not playing for the national side due to injury and disciplinary reasons since June 2014.
He was ruled out of England's
tour of Australia due to an injury suffered in a Premiership semifinal loss against Saracens.
Tuilagi returned to the England team in 2018 and came off the bench in a 37–18 win against to win his 28th cap.
After a string of strong performances for club team Leicester Tigers, Tuilagi was included in the England squad for the 2019 Six Nations that ultimately finished in 2nd place, runners up to Grand Slam winners Wales.
International tries
Honours
Leicester Tigers
*
Premiership Winner (2):
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
,
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
* Anglo-Welsh Cup Winner (2): 2011-12, 2016-17
Sale Sharks
* Premiership Rugby Cup Winner: 2019-20
England
*
Six Nations Winner (2):
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
,
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
*Triple Crown Winner (2):
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
,
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
*
Millennium Trophy
The Millennium Trophy () is a rugby union award contested annually by England and Ireland as part of the Six Nations Championship. It was initiated in 1988 as part of Dublin's millennial celebrations. The trophy has the shape of a horned Viking ...
Winner (3) : 2012,2013,2020
*
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
Runner up:
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
British & Irish Lions
*
British & Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
series:
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
Disciplinary issues
Tuilagi has been involved in a number of incidents that have affected his playing career. In 2011, he was banned for five weeks for repeatedly punching
Chris Ashton
Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is an English rugby union and former rugby league player, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. A wing or fullback, he joined Leicester Tigers of Premiersh ...
in the Premiership semi-final between Leicester and Northampton.
During the 2011 World Cup, he was fined £4,800 after wearing a sponsored mouthguard, breaking the tournament's rules. In the aftermath of England's exit from the World Cup after losing to France, he was arrested by New Zealand police for jumping into Auckland harbour from a ferry, and was subsequently fined £3,000 by the RFU.
In September 2013, he issued an apology to Prime Minister
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
after making a "bunny ears" sign behind his back during a visit by the Lions squad to
Downing Street
Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...
.
In May 2015, Tuilagi was convicted of assaulting two female police officers and a taxi driver, and fined £6,205. England coach
Stuart Lancaster subsequently announced that Tuilagi would not be considered for selection until January 2016, thus missing the
2015 World Cup.
In August 2017, after rejoining the England squad after a series of injuries, he returned to the team hotel drunk with teammate
Denny Solomona
Denny Solomona (born 27 September 1993) is a rugby footballer who played rugby union as a Wing (rugby union), winger for England national rugby union team, England at international level. He previously played rugby union for Sale Sharks in Pre ...
, and they were sent home by coach
Eddie Jones. Tuilagi was not selected in England's initial squad for the 2018 Six Nations.
In March 2020, Tuilagi was sent off in a Six Nations Championship match against Wales at Twickenham, which England won 33-30, after it was deemed by the Referee, Ben O'Keefe of New Zealand, that he had committed a no-arms tackle on the Welsh winger, George North. A disciplinary panel subsequently banned Tuilagi from playing for four weeks, but he did not subsequently miss any games, owing to the coronavirus lockdown.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuilagi, Manu
1991 births
Living people
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Samoa
England international rugby union players
English Roman Catholics
Leicester Tigers players
Rugby union centres
Samoan sportspeople
Samoan expatriates in the United Kingdom
Samoan Roman Catholics
Tuilagi family