Manu Tuilagi has been encouraged to use his head this season and, while in the past he may have been distracted by the desire to put some big hits on the Racing 92 playmaker Dan Carter early on in Sunday’s European Champions Cup semi-final, he now sees the broader picture.
The Leicester and England centre has put 15 months of injury misery behind him this year, making 10 appearances since finally overcoming a groin problem and scoring five tries to help the Tigers close in on a place in the Premiership play-offs as well as a first European Cup final for seven years.
Leicester will bring “home” advantage over Racing with the semi-final being played a few miles up the M1 at the City Ground in Nottingham, the scene of their last-minute triumph at this stage against Llanelli in 2002 when Tim Stimpson’s 58-metre penalty went over with the help of the crossbar and a post. Carter, who won the World Cup with New Zealand last year, is a player the Tigers will need to tame.
“Playing against him is always a massive challenge,” said Tuilagi. “I have done so a few times against the All Blacks and he is someone who can control a game and sort out things for his side. He will be a considerable threat we have to take into account but we have to look at the Racing team as a whole. They beat Toulon in the quarter-final so we know it is going to be a tough afternoon. We are playing some good rugby and we have to believe in ourselves.
“I’m enjoying playing at 12. Aaron [Mauger, the Leicester head coach] is helping me a lot and it was a position he played in for a long time for the All Blacks. It makes it easier when you’ve got someone like Peter Betham outside you along with Telusa Veainu and all the other guys. I have been able to pick the brains of Jean de Villiers, someone who has been there and done it, and that helps hugely.”
Asked whether he would be targeting Carter after making some thumping tackles during Leicester’s east Midlands derby victory at Northampton last weekend, he replied: “The perfect hit? No, you’ve got to look at them as a team not as individuals. But definitely there’ll be individual battles with the whole opposition. We need to go right from the start. Aaron has given me some tips about Carter but I am not saying what.”
Tuilagi has played at 12 for most of the year having been used at 13 previously by his club and England, apart from a brief stint on the wing. Inside centre is where the national head coach, Eddie Jones, sees his Test career lying, along with Mauger, who won 46 caps for New Zealand in the position.
“Aaron wants everyone to play, forwards and backs, and for everyone to have the skills that allow us to play with a flow. We are throwing the ball around but it is about being smart at the same time. I feel I am getting back to normal now after being out for so long and it is very exciting to be part of our back division in which everyone knows his role.
“A European semi-final is a game you want to be fit for and play in. My goal is to win silverware with the club and the only focus for me now is Sunday’s semi-final. I signed a new contract with Leicester last season because you always believe the club will be up there. Having come through the academy system here, I grew up with that and perhaps that is a difference between this club and others.”
Leicester’s director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, said this week that he was encouraging Tuilagi to lose some weight to give him extra sharpness, advice that is being taken by the player who will celebrate his 25th birthday a few days after next month’s Champions Cup final.
“I am 112kg at the moment but I have played at 110kg,” said Tuilagi. “I am a little bit heavy, I think, but I feel good. Another one or two kgs [off] would be better. You don’t have to eat like a monk but it’s about controlling it over the week. Maybe be good three or four days and then eat normally on the other days.”
Tuilagi was living in Samoa when Leicester won the 2002 semi-final in Nottingham. “It is a famous game and I hope for a repeat result,” he said. “The French have to come over here and in the past they have not enjoyed travelling. I am just glad to be back because it was hard watching for such a long time. It gave me a chance to learn by analysing what I would have done in certain positions. I just want to play well in the massive games we have coming up before I can start thinking about starting for England again.”
