WORLD CUP NEWS:MANU TUILAGI'S remarkable impact on the England camp led to him being selected for the World Cup before he had even played a test match, it emerged yesterday.
The Leicester centre only broke into the Tigers first team at the start of last season, but he trained with England during the Six Nations. Tuilagi’s pace and power caused such a stir Martin Johnson had inked his name into England’s World Cup plans before his debut in the warm-up international win against Wales at Twickenham.
The 20-year-old juggernaut justified that faith by scoring two tries in his first two tests – and the camp are now predicting he could become as good as New Zealand’s revered centre Ma’a Nonu.
“Manu has been on the radar for a while,” said attack coach Brian Smith, as England moved from Auckland to Dunedin to begin preparations for their opening World Cup game against Argentina on Saturday.
“If we see a player we think is going to be an England player we bring them into the training camp. We can then see what he is like shoulder-to-shoulder with our squad – and from what we had seen of Manu, he had the goods. It was nice to have that confirmed in his first two performances . . . He has got lovely hands, he is a good offloader. He is an outstanding talent.”
Springboks openside flanker Heinrich Brussow has been singled out as a dangerman by Wales defensive coach Shaun Edwards, with the world champion South Africans showing signs of their all-conquering 2009 form.
Wales and the Springboks square off in their World Cup Pool D opener on September 11th in Wellington and Edwards said his team were well aware of the challenge facing them. “The Springboks, on paper are looking like the team of 2009 again,” Edwards said, referring to the side that beat the Lions and swept through the Tri-Nations, which included three wins against New Zealand. “They’re looking very strong with Heinrich Brussow back in and all the stars that played the Lions in that series.”
Edwards said he felt Brussow, who missed most of 2010 with a knee injury, had adapted to changes in rule interpretations that gives the advantage to the attacking side, making him still a serious threat. “He’s a genuine world-class seven and they are very hard to come by.”
