by Manu Tuilagi is likely to leave Sale Sharks at the end of the season to move abroad, Sports telegraph understandably, ending his long career in England and his time in England rugby.
The England centre-back, 32, is set to end his four-year spell at Sale as the club struggle to create enough salary cap room to keep Tuilagi beyond this season.
Although Tuilagi’s departure has yet to be confirmed, it is understood that a significant change in circumstances with Sale’s cap would be necessary for Tuilagi to somehow stay, which is seen as an unlikely prospect.
In fact, Sale have already lined up a replacement for next season to take Tuilagi’s place in the squad, with talks ongoing.
Tuilagi started for England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final against South Africa and in the bronze medal final against Argentina, but has yet to play since Steve Borthwick. He missed the first two games of the Six Nations against Italy and Wales while recovering from a groin injury before returning to the squad, but was not selected to face Scotland or Ireland with England opting for Ollie Lawrence instead.
He has scored 20 tries in 59 caps for England, a spell hampered by injury, since making his debut in the 2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up against Wales at Twickenham.
Tuilagi signed a one-year contract extension with Sale last year to stay at the club for the 2023-24 season. Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, last discussed Tuilagi’s contract situation back in December, revealing that the exit of Jono Ross and the departure of Coenie Oosthuizen last year had created enough money to re-sign Tuilagi while admitting he was unsure how which Sale would extend. Tuilagi’s contract work if they tried to keep him for another year.
Sanderson said at the time: “He came back from the World Cup and I was like, ‘Right, how are you feeling? Do you think you have another year in you?’ I don’t know how we’re going to do it yet, but it’s like, ‘Let’s go back to the field and go for another steak’, so we’ll chat over a glass of wine.”
England are moving on from Tuilagi – he is right to cash in
Sometimes, certain players with bad injury records get to a point where you have to take the money. No one fits that bracket more than Tuilagi. When you have to spend time creating an injury map that explains where a player has undergone surgeries or been ruled out for extended periods, you feel the need to urge them to take the biggest pay check out there .
It’s a small miracle that Tuilagi is still in the England squad at all, 13 years after his debut, given his injury record. Could he bring more to this England side? Sure, even if Ollie Lawrence has stolen a march at inside centre, and rightly so because of his form playing for Bath this season.
Tuilagi has been to three Rugby World Cups (missing in 2015) and played in England’s two biggest Tests against New Zealand in 2012 and 2019. If he could stay fit he would be a Test leader , no doubt, and perhaps gone on. more trips to Australia by the British and Irish Lions than in 2013, with a season-ending knee injury in 2017 and his Achilles rupture recovery in 2021 putting him out of contention. The fact that it took him five years between scoring a try for England, between 2014 and 2019, shows just how broken his career has become as a result of multiple setbacks.
When he suited up for England he was fantastic. And for a long time when he was not, England did not know what to do without him. Now for the first time they seem fully prepared to think about life without Tuilagi, so when is the best time for him to make money? Clubs in France or Japan will be prepared to pay him a small fortune – hopefully set him up for life – at a time when Sale, as much as they want to, cannot put the numbers together to keep Tuilagi in the books for someone else. a year or more.
That is not the same as the horror that Henry Arundell, Joe Marchant and Jack Willis went abroad; all young players coming into their own, talents that England rugby desperately needs in the Premier League not only to be available to the national side but also to boost the appeal of the Premier League.
People are still luring Tuilagi in – for a long time he was the most talked-about name in English rugby, which is very tempting – but at 32 he owes us nothing. This could not feel more like the right time for him to be paid as much as possible, considering who knows how long he has left. It will go with the blessing of England rugby.
