Manu Tuilagi's journey back to the England squad
- 1648
Leicester Tiger's centre Manu Tuilagi has had an injury-plagued career and is set to return to the test arena this November.
Tuilagi, who is in his 9th season of Premiership Rugby, makes his 85th Premiership appearance this weekend against Worcester Warriors.
The centre has taken longer than some of his fellow teammates to reach the milestone with the likes of Owen Farrell and Joe Marler, who are the same age as Tuilagi, having made over 200 appearances already.
Kinda obvious but compare his career matches to similar aged peers:
— Will Kelleher (@willgkelleher) September 22, 2018
🐯 Manu 84 Prem, 21 Euro, 27 Tests = 132 total
💫 Farrell 95, 60, 65 = 220
🃏 Marler 105, 43, 59 = 207
💫 George 123, 47, 31 = 201
🐯 May 96, 42, 37 = 175
🐝 Launchbury 81, 37, 54 = 172 #statcave #rugby
In an interview with the Mirror, Tuilagi revealed how Jonny Wilkinson's example got him through 'dark days' of injury hell.
“You always say you will get back, but you have a lot of dark days,” admitted the 27-year old. “My nature is to always think there will be light at the end of the tunnel, but it has been tough.”
“I looked at Jonny and his comebacks and, yeah, it gave me hope,” said Tuilagi. “I just hope it’s going to be like that for me!”
Peace of mind was finally achieved with a visit last year to a witch doctor in Samoa who removed evil spirits from his body.
“It is hard to believe until you see it,” he admitted. “But when she had finished she said ‘it is done’ - and I believe that it is.”
Tuilagi has been in good form at the start of the season and earned a recall to Eddie Jones' England training squad ahead of the 2018 November Tests.
See the latest stats, kick-off time, channels and follow Leicester Tigers clash with Worcester Warriors on Sunday HERE
