Dan Hipkiss warns England not to put Manu Tuilagi on the wing
There is no doubting Tuilagi would be the most super of impact subs – as shown against Italy – but Lancaster can ill-afford to leave his most potent weapon on the bench.
Then again, loyalty is one of Lancaster’s fundamental virtues and Luther Burrell made the transition from club inside centre to international No.13 seamlessly, scoring three tries along the way.
Pairing them is an option but Lancaster wants a playmaker at 12 and the way Billy Twelvetrees enabled Owen Farrell to flourish with ball in hand has not been lost.
Which raises the option of playing Tuilagi, 22, on the left wing, a position he played throughout his youth, only moving to centre in the Leicester Tigers first team.
Lancaster has hinted he may conduct the experiment in New Zealand this summer but, according to former Leicester centre Dan Hipkiss who passed the Tigers’ No.13 shirt on to Tuilagi, said that would be foolish.
“Is there a single team in the world that Manu would not get into at outside centre,” said Hipkiss. “I don’t think there is. I’m sure he could do a job on the wing but I just don’t
see why you’d do it. On the wing you get a lot of high balls, you have to kick a lot and that’s not Manu’s game.
“I remember watching Manu as a 100kg 15-year-old, practically killing other lads on the wing but he’s been at centre for so long now.
“Don’t get me wrong, Luther Burrell did brilliantly in the Six Nations but,with all respect, New Zealand in the summer will be a big step up.
“And you only have to look at what Manu did to the All Blacks at Twickenham in 2012. He’ll be the first name on the team sheet that all opponents look for and New Zealand will be no different.
“When they were here last autumn, they had genuine competition for every position. That’s what England will want and I don’t see how you can leave Manu out.”
Hipkiss also had a front row seat watching Manu’s older brothers, Freddie and Alesana, wreaking havoc on the wing for the Tigers.
And while Manu once looked ready to follow in their footsteps, Hipkiss believes his family links could cloud judgment. “Manu thinks about rugby a lot, he’s a real student of the game and he plays centre so well. He’s so strong there defensively as well as offensively,” added Hipkiss.
“You can’t move someone like him just to accommodate others. It makes me think of what the All Blacks did with Christian Cullen. He was a world class full-back and then they moved him to the cen- tres and it just didn’t work.”
This is not the first time that England have agonised over how to get the best out of Tuilagi. Some believe that at No.13 he is wasted in the role of battering ram, as effective as that may be.
Previous suggestions have involved moving inside one to No.12 – following the blue- print of New Zealander Ma’a Nonu, who developed from midfield powerhouse to world-class centre with a kicking and passing game now envied by all.
That was given short shrift by the Tigers, however, meaning it is up to Lancaster to take the plunge this summer if he sees it as a viable option for the World Cup.
If he is to experiment, New Zealand is not the ideal ‘where’ but this summer must be the ‘when’. Jonny May’s unpredictability can at times infuriate, and Tuilagi would need as much exposure there as possible.
So what does the man him- self think? Typically, Tuilagi rarely gives much away – other than that he is never happier than with a rugby ball in his hand.
“If I get thrown onto the wing I’m happy to play on it,” he said. “I played all my career on the wing up until the Leicester first team so that definitely helps, and the game against Italy I trained to cover both – wing and 13.
“It’d be awesome out there, it’d be really exciting – you would get a lot more space wouldn’t you? That’s what you want, but centre is the position I love really.
“Luther and Billy played an outstanding Six Nations, for me just to be in that team in the end was awesome.”
Tigers coach Richard Cockerill, meanwhile, is unlikely to oblige – not least because he is concerned with the Tigers’ pursuit of a tenth straight Premiership final while Niki Goneva continues to dazzle out wide.
Traditionally focusing recruitment on the pack, Cockerill is not inundated with wingers but Miles Benjamin is one keeping his fingers crossed that Tuilagi stays put.
He said: “It hasn’t been talked about but I don’t think that means he’s not capable or willing to do it – he has just done so well at centre that there hasn’t been that debate.
“You relish competition but I’m in no hurry to make my job harder than it is!”
GERARD MEAGHER & CHRIS BAILEY
