Manu Tuilagi returns to England squad

Manu Tuilagi and Marland Yarde have been restored to England's squad ahead of Sunday's RBS 6 Nations clash with Wales, the Rugby Football Union has announced

Tuilagi and Yarde have recovered from the respective pectoral and hip injuries that have prevented them from participating in the championship to date.

The three-quarter duo will arrive at England’s training camp in Bagshot on Monday night, but neither player is likely to be involved against Wales.

Tuilagi made a successful return to Leicester duty after five months out of action during the win over Leicester at the weekend.

Tuilagi had a quiet day in the Tigers’ 41-18 demolition of strugglers Newcastle and he was even sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 70th minute.

“I was excited to be back and wanted to play the whole 80 minutes,” said Tuilagi afterwards.

“I felt pretty good out there after all the training I have been doing and I’ve worked hard to get myself back to this point.

“I was pretty nervous and excited at the same time — just to get out there and get the feel of the rugby ball in my hands and to play again. It took a while for me to get the ball but I was straight back into it as far as defence was concerned.

“I’ll be going down to training with the England boys tomorrow and we’ll take it from there. The boys are doing really well and it’ll be really good for me to just go down there and get settled back in there and take things from there.

“I spoke to Stuart last weekend and he said to come down after the game and train and we’ll see how it goes. I knew that in the first game back I was bound to be nervous, but I just wanted that ball and I was happy with the first tackle and impact.

“If Stuart asks me if I’m ready to play I’ll say ‘absolutely’. Of course, I would be nervous but I always like to be nervous before a game, it keeps me on my toes. I feel I’ve knocked the rust off my game today. I would have liked to play the whole game and felt I could have.”