sport news Manu Tuilagi has almost been deported, jumped off a ferry - and pranked the ... trends now
Ahead of Manu Tuilagi’s last home game in England before a summer move across the Channel, here is a public safety notice. His three-year-old son, Leo, has just started going to rugby tots. Sound the alarm.
For now, this is a grave matter for parents of other minis-age players in the Cheshire area but, very soon, it will be a potential problem for those with young boys in and around Bayonne, in the far south west of France.
Manu and his family will soon head there to establish a new out-post for the formidable Tuilagi clan by the Atlantic coast, but first he wants to sign off from Sale and the English game with a flourish.
Friday's sold-out Premiership clash with Leicester in Salford will be a poignant occasion for the departing England centre. ‘It’s quite emotional to know that this will be the last home game at Sale,’ he said. ‘I’ve loved it here. Four years has gone so quickly, it feels like I just came here yesterday.’
The fact that Sale – who are still in the hunt to snatch a play-off place – are taking on the club where Tuilagi made his name and gave so many years of injury-scarred service is an added dimension. ‘I was actually thinking that,’ he added. ‘What are the odds of my last game here being against Leicester? It makes it even more special.’
Manu Tuilagi will make his last home appearance for Sale in Premiership clash with Leicester
Tuilagi was fined £3,000 by England for jumping off a ferry in Auckland harbour in 2011
The over-riding impression from a long chat with Tuilagi is that he is grateful for the way his career has turned out and for the fact that it is still going, after so many aggravating setbacks, which would have broken the spirit of a less positive character. He joked that, with three young children, he has no time for any significant reflection. He also admitted that he has always been inclined to go with the flow, rather than over-thinking, every step of the way.
‘The great thing about life is that you never know what is going to happen,’ he said. ‘That is why I don’t plan anything. My wife hates that. At least she is there to plan everything for us. I’d have no idea! I’ve just enjoyed it.’
There was certainly no grand plan when he arrived from Samoa and rapidly acclimatised to a very different existence in Leicester, where his older brothers had planted the family flag. Asked to recall his first impressions, Manu said: ‘It was crazy. When we got here, it was in the winter so it was freezing, but I loved it. I still remember the smell of winter. I remember it snowed, I ran out in no shoes and my mum nearly gave me a hiding! But it was an amazing experience.
‘I thought we’d just come here for a holiday. Mum and dad went back, but me and my brother Vavae stayed here, and over-stayed, for a long time! I actually didn’t know, until I nearly got deported. It’s been a good life. When I look back now I just think, “Wow”. It’s been some journey.’
The very real threat that he could have been deported – before a local campaign to spare him from that sanction for not having an appropriate visa – was just the first drama during his colourful career. There have been many others, from bans for punching
