Manu Tuilagi

Manu Tuilagi

Argentina vs England at 2011 Rugby World Cup
Date of birth	18 May 1991 (1991-05-18) (age 20)
Place of birth	Fogapoa, Samoa
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	110 kg (243 lb; 17 st 5 lb) [1]
School	John Cleveland College
Notable relative(s)	Anitelea Tuilagi (brother) Alesana Tuilagi (brother) Henry Tuilagi (brother) Sanele Vavae Tuilagi (brother) Freddie Tuilagi (brother)
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s)	Outside Centre
current team	Leicester Tigers
Playing career
Position	Wing/Centre
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2010–	Leicester Tigers	25	(40)
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2011	England Saxons England	2 7	(5) (20)
Sevens national teams
Years	Club / team		Comps
2010	England Sevens

Manu Samoa Tuilagi (born 18 May 1991) is a Samoan born British professional rugby union player who currently plays for Aviva Premiership side Leicester Tigers. He plays on the wing or as a centre.

Family

Manu is the younger brother of Henry Tuilagi, Freddie Tuilagi, Alesana Tuilagi, Anitelea Tuilagi and Sanele Vavae Tuilagi, all of whom are Samoan internationals.^[2]

Club career

Tuilagi played junior rugby at Hinckley RFC from U14's to U16's; winning the Leicestershire county cup at U16's. He was a student at John Cleveland College where he was part of the team that won the Leicestershire schools county cup three years running; he played in the U15's Daily Mail Vase, losing to Langley Park Boys School in the Final at Twickenham Stadium. Tuilagi played in the Daily Mail Vase final again in U18's where, after collecting a crossfield kick, he scored a try in the victory over Hampton School.

Tuilagi represented Leicester in the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham in 2009. The team only made it out of the first round, having beaten London Wasps: in this game, Tuilagi made a big hit on Wasps sevens captain Chris Bishay.

Tuilagi played for the victorious Leicester Tigers side against South Africa at Welford Road on 6 November 2009.^[3]

He began his first season (2010–11) with the senior Tigers side with plenty of promise. Tigers Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill said that he expected Tuilagi to be a first-team regular and to play for England before long.^[4] 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 on 14 May 2011, Tuilagi received a yellow card for punching Chris Ashton. Tuilagi was later cited for this offence, and given a 10-week ban, later reduced to five weeks.^[5]

International career

Tuilagi said he would prefer to play internationally for England, where he had grown up. He was selected to start the England Saxons game against Italy 'A' in January 2011,^[6] scoring a second half try in a match which England won 45-17.^[7] In June 2011 he was named in England's training squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and has since been a regular in the starting line up.

In addition Tuilagi has been involved with the England Sevens squad. In May 2010 he represented an "England VII" in the London Floodlit Sevens, playing under the 'Dig Deep England' banner. In helping England retain their title, UR7s said that he had "made the biggest impact against Saracens (in the final) combining brutal power with subtle offloads".^[8]

On 4 August 2011, Tuilagi's England début was confirmed for the World Cup warm-up match against Wales at Twickenham on 6 August 2011. ^[9] He duly started and scored a try in the 44th minute underneath the post, after an inside pass from Jonny Wilkinson. He then played in the third warm up game, a victory over Ireland, and scored again.

International tries

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result
1	Wales	London, England	Twickenham	Test Match	02011-08-06 6 August 2011	Won
2	Ireland	Dublin, Ireland	Aviva Stadium	Test Match	02011-08-27 27 August 2011	Won
3	Georgia	Dunedin, New Zealand	Otago Stadium	2011 Rugby World Cup	02011-09-18 18 September 2011	Won
4	Romania	Dunedin, New Zealand	Otago Stadium	2011 Rugby World Cup	02011-09-24 24 September 2011	Won

Personal life

In June 2010, Tuilagi faced deportation from the United Kingdom after it emerged that he had entered the country on a holiday visa six years earlier and had stayed on illegally.^[10] After an appeal, he was later granted indefinite leave to remain.^[11]

In the aftermath of England's 2011 World Cup exit to France, Tuilagi was detained by New Zealand police and subsequently fined £3000 by the England team for jumping into Auckland harbour from a ferry.^[12]

References

1. ^ "Aviva Premiership Rugby - Gloucester Rugby". web page. Premier Rugby. http://www.premiershiprugby.com/premiership/rugby/leicester_tigers.php?section=1. Retrieved 4 September 2011. 
2. ^ Godwin, Hugh (2006-05-28). "Meet the Tuilagis - A brotherhood of tigers". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/meet-the-tuilagis--a-brotherhood-of-tigers-480031.html. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
3. ^ Hands, David (7 November 2009). "South Africans forced to bow to Leicester’s youth rally". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6907322.ece. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
4. ^ "Manu Tuilagi backed to play for England at next World Cup". Leicester Mercury. 14 August 2010. http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/leicestertigers/Leicester-Tigers-youngster-Manu-Tuilagi-backed-play-England-World-Cup/article-2527626-detail/article.html. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
5. ^ "Leicester's Manu Tuilagi cited for punches on Ashton". BBC Online. 18 May 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13404917.stm. Retrieved 17 May 2011. 
6. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (27 January 2011). "Samoan-born Leicester Tigers centre Manu Tuilagi to make England Saxons debut against Italy A". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/8285751/Samoan-born-Leicester-Tigers-centre-Manu-Tuilagi-to-make-England-Saxons-debut-against-Italy-A.html. Retrieved 27 January 2011. 
7. ^ "England Saxons 45 Italy A 17". Sportinglife.com. http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyunion/reports/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rugby/11/01/29/manual_173853.html&TEAMHD=general&TEAM=&YEAR=&BID=3672. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
8. ^ "England victorious at London Floodlit Sevens". ur7s.com. http://ur7s.com/news/1031. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 
9. ^ "Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi to make England debut". BBC News. 4 August 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14402361.stm. Retrieved 4 August 2011. 
10. ^ "Leicester Tigers player is refused leave to stay in the UK". Leicester Mercury. 15 June 2010. http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Tigers-player-refused-leave-stay-UK/article-2300425-detail/article.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
11. ^ "Rising star at Leicester Tigers wins fight against deportation". Leicester Mercury. 7 July 2010. http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/TIGERS-MANU-WINS-FIGHT-STAY-UK/article-2387635-detail/article.html. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
12. ^ "England fine Manu Tuilagi for ferry jump". BBC News. 11 October 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15234032.stm. Retrieved 11 October 2011. 

External links

• Leicester profile

Persondata
Name	Tuilagi, Manusamoa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 May 1991
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death