When your own name was inspired by the Rugby World Cup you are perhaps bound to place great importance on the tournament and England’s Manu Tuilagi is determined to show his very best form in what he thinks will be his final opportunity to win the Webb Ellis Cup.
Etuale Manusamoa Tuilagi was given his middle name in honour of the Western Samoa squad, which included his brother Freddie, that would make a fairytale run to the quarter-finals of the 1991 tournament a few months after his birth.
Arrested for jumping off a ferry in Auckland harbour at the end of his first campaign in 2011, the 28-year-old Tuilagi failed to feature at all in 2015 after being convicted of assault.
England assistant coach John Mitchell said that he felt Tuilagi, who scored two tries in England’s opener against Tonga, had unfinished business with the World Cup.
The powerful centre politely disagreed.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to go out there and just try and be the best,” he told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
“There’s no finished or unfinished business there for me, I’m just really enjoying playing rugby.”
Mitchell also revealed that Tuilagi was known in the squad as “Chief” and suggested it was an honorific bestowed out of respect for his leadership.
Again Tuilagi disagreed.
“The name ‘Chief’ comes from back home, we have chiefs, the chiefs of the village,” said Tuilagi, who was born in Samoa but moved to Britain when he was 13.
Long spells of injury, as well as a suspension or two, have restricted him to just 36 Tests in the eight years since his debut.
“I can never be the old me again, it’s different now, the old me used to just go and play and train and nowadays I need to warm up for 30 minutes before I start,” he said.
After comfortable Pool C wins over Tonga and United States, England face their first real test in Japan against Argentina on Saturday, the same team Tuilagi faced in his first World Cup match in 2011.
“It was a tough game,” he said of England’s 13-9 victory in Dunedin.
“And it’s probably going to be another tough game on Saturday.”
