The life of Manu Tuilagi is not an easy one. On the pitch, he is entrusted with the job of using his body as a battering ram to bludgeon his way through the opposition’s defence. While off it he spends more time than almost anyone else on the treatment table as he is one of the most injury prone players in England.
News broke last week that the England centre was once again injured, with serious ligament damage to his knee. Fortunately it is his left knee that has sustained the injury, instead of the troublesome right knee that kept him out for so long after injuring it in January.
It was with a collective sigh of disappointment that Leicester and England fans greeted this news, as the destructive back is so influential for both sides. Indeed, news of his injury will please some of the more shortsighted England fans that don't support Leicester.
His injuries have seen him play less than 20 minutes for England since Eddie Jones took over in 2015, while he has made 17 appearances for his club over the last three seasons. They are astounding stats and it is equally as surprising that his incredible display against New Zealand at Twickenham was five years ago.
The 26-year-old is nearing something of a point of no return for his national side then. England are advancing forward at a rate of notes recently and their centre pairing of Owen Farrell beside anyone of Ben Te’o, Elliot Daly, Henry Slade, Luther Burrell or Jonathan Joseph has seen Jones’ side go from strength to strength.
While only Te’o brings the same sort of destructive power as Tuilagi, England are no longer waiting at the end of the centres injury bed to find out when he will return. This always played into Tuilagi’s hands as he knew it wouldn’t even take a few outstanding performances for his club to earn him a call up to England, instead, he simply needed to prove he was fit.
That was when England were not the second best team in the world though. While this may sound odd to say, the Red Rose were not ever going to climb the world rankings by only having an outstanding 15, instead they need strength in depth, which they have.
While Tuilagi’s injury is a massively disappointing one, it is not as terminal as it may have once been for England, and it is instead one that hurts the player’s future with England more than the nation’s future.
Ultimately, his latest injury may be one that sees England permanently move on as it is impossible, and impractical to build a team around such an injury prone wrecking-ball.
