‘We’re lucky to have him back’: Manu Tuilagi in line for Sale return

Manu Tuilagi is back in contention for selection this weekend according to his Sale Sharks coach, Alex Sanderson, who also conceded that the England centre was “rushed back” to the international fold in time for the Six Nations.

“It needed a more graduated return to play, in terms of his loading, for him to take on [the] load he couldn’t handle that week,” Sanderson said of Tuilagi who was selected to start against Wales after only 81 minutes of rugby after a three-month absence, but then suffered a hamstring injury in training.

“Is that being rushed?” Sanderson asked. “Yes, in hindsight, I guess there’s no other way around it. He got injured, so we have to look at how he was managed. We are going to sit down with England, have another conversation about how we can get him through to [next year’s] World Cup fit and strong.”

Tuilagi’s return is welcome news for club and country. England sorely missed his physicality and direct running in midfield, tellingly utilising the prop Ellis Genge as their primary ball carrier against France in Paris last Saturday.

Sale, meanwhile, are seventh in a tightly packed Premiership table and play Bristol across two ties in the European Champions Cup round of 16 next month. Before that they have league games against Harlequins and Saracens as well as this weekend’s trip to Bath. Sanderson was evidently delighted to have “one of the world’s best centres”, as he called Tuilagi, back in the ranks.

“He’s the glue off the field and forever a positive, smiley face,” Sanderson said. “On it he’s a wrecking ball. We talked a bit at the start of this week about how we can challenge each other at this business end of the season. That’s what he does. People grow a few inches around him and we get