Manusamoa Tuilagi set to go on tour with England – Rugby News Update
Manusamoa Tuilagi, the 21-year-old England and Leicester Tigers' centre is set to tour South Africa with the England squad after he was cleared by the Rugby Football Union committee.
England is set to play a three-match test series in the southern hemisphere, along with playing two other mid-week games during the summer tour. Stuart Lancaster, the head coach of England, was sweating on the availability of Tuilagi, as he had to face an
inquiry for a tackle on Danny Care, of the Harlequins, in the final of the Aviva Premiership.
Tuilagi expressed his delight that he will not face a ban and he is relieved that will be able to add to the England caps this summer.
"I'm really happy and can't wait to get to South Africa with the squad," he told the
Daily Telegraph. "I thought it was a good tackle and I'd like to thank the panel for listening to what I had to say and coming to their decision. It is going to be a massive tour and I am just relieved to be able to take part."
The mercurial centre could have faced a minimum of a three-week ban for his dangerous tackle on Care. He did not receive a yellow card during the game, and the incident was reported after the game. Tuilagi had to face a two-hour hearing in Bristol, constituting
of a three-man panel. The decision of the panel was that the centre should not be penalised for the tackle, and were not satisfied that the player deserved a ban. In case he would have received the ban, Tuilagi would have been ruled out of the tour.
Tuilagi made his full Leicester debut in 2010 and quickly rose to prominence. International honours were not far behind, and he earned his debut against Wales at Twickenham, on August 6, 2011. So far he has played for England 10 times, starting all of those
games, and in the process he has scored 25 points.
He will be a relieved man that he is set to fly out to Durban on Wednesday, and Lancaster will be able to use his services.
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