Nick Cain: Fears grow for Manu Tuilagi, the Tiger in a trap

Manu Tuilagi has probably gone into freefall further and faster than with any high profile international currently playing the game. Furthermore, with the recurrence of the Gilmore’s groin problems that have dogged him for the last two years following the opening match of the Premiership campaign against Gloucester, there are no signs of it coming to an end.
Since he hit the heights with a one-man demolition job of New Zealand at Twickenham in the autumn of 2012, Tuilagi has been snared by injuries. Although the Tigers, England and Lions centre finished the 2012-13 season intact, the intervening three years have been a nightmare which serve as a reminder of how even the most powerful physical specimens hold no special numbers in the injury lottery.
The combination of a shoulder injury in 2013-14, and then the dreaded Gilmore’s Groin over the last two seasons, has seen Tuilagi play for Leicester just 27 times in three years. Over the same period he has managed to play in only five England Tests, missing out on a potential 31 caps.
This season, Tuilagi, who is still only 25, is at a crossroads. Although it is premature to talk about this latest groin strain threatening to bring an end to his career, it is legitimate to start asking whether he will ever again be the one-man army he was.
Against the All Blacks in 2012 – and on multiple occasions before that both for the Tigers and England – Tuilagi was an unstoppable force of nature. Not only was he incredibly thickset and strong, he had enough pace to play on the wing. The problem after almost three years out of the game is that Tuilagi has become heavier, and appears to have lost the spring in his step – to the extent that wing would no longer be an option.
What will be most disappointing for Tuilagi, as well as for club and country, is that having missed out on the summer tour of Australia following a hamstring injury soon after his return to action at the end of last season, he had the best part of four months in which to get fighting fit.
For reasons that only the Leicester medical and conditioning staff are privy to, it simply did not happen. Tuilagi return to action against Gloucester at Kingsholm a couple of weeks ago still looking like a heavier, slower shadow of his former self. Although he scored a try, he also missed six tackles, which in the past would have been unheard of.
However, any suggestion that Tuilagi was not in the best shape was contradicted by the notoriously inaccurate weights and measures supplied by Premiership clubs. These still list the Samoan-born centre as 17st 5lbs (111kg), even though his recorded weight as a 19-year-old at the 2011 World Cup was exactly the same.
If, instead, we trust the evidence of what we see in front of us, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that Tuilagi has been unable to train with the intensity required to get himself in mint condition.
Tuilagi said recently that when he first sustained the Gilmore’s Groin injury he knew very little about it, but that with the benefit of hindsight, he would have taken more time to recover from the debilitating ruture, in which the pelvis partially dislocates.
Leicester had first-hand knowledge of the type of injury because full-back Mathew Tait had been sidelined with it for 16 months. Yet, when Tuilagi tried to come back after eight months, he suffered a recurrence, and said it needed more time to “let it stick together”.
Rehabilitating players after injury is a difficult business, as Leicester saw last season when lock/blindside Mike Williams suffered a broken arm, and then broke it again immediately after he returned to action.
Everyone at Welford Road will have their fingers crossed that Tuilagi will be restored to full fitness sooner rather than later, although the overwhelming evidence is that groin trouble is not something you can hurry along.
This week Eddie Jones appeared to accept that Tuilagi’s chance to add to his 27 Red Rose caps this autumn had been put on hold.
“Look, you are always concerned when a player has got injury issues, but I know Leicester are working really hard to get him right. I know he wants to play, and wants to be right, so he is just going through this spell. At the end of it, hopefully, he will come out a better player.”
The England head coach also suggested that the most likely beneficiary from Tuilagi’s absence would be Ben Te’o, the former Aussie Rugby League star, who has made a favourable impression with his strong, direct running since joining Worcester from Leinster.
Jones said: “He was fantastic in that first 40 against Gloucester. He had three touches of the ball and created line breaks, and created opportunities for space out wide.”
Although the Jones accolade for Te’o will have been a painful reminder to Tuilagi that time waits for no man in professional sport, there is an upside. Namely, that every time he sees Tait in the Tigers starting line-up it will be a reminder that he can get back what he has lost.