Bayonne statement: Confirmed signing of Manu Tuilagi
Bayonne have confirmed they have signed England midfielder Manu Tuilagi, bringing an end to the 32-year-old's Test career. The centre came off the bench in Lyon last Saturday night to feature for his country in their Guinness Six Nations match versus France.
However, that will now be his last appearance in the white Test shirt as Steve Borthwick is unable to select players who play their club rugby outside England.
As exclusively reported last Saturday by RugbyPass, Tuilagi was expected in Bayonne on Monday and that visit has now concluded with the agreement of a contract through to the end of the 2025/2026 season in France.
Sale Sharks confirmed at around 6pm on Tuesday that Tuilagi would be leaving the Gallagher Premiership club at the end of the current 2023/24 season and Bayonne have since confirmed two hours later that they are indeed the club the player has signed for.
In a short social media accompanied by a video, Bayonne said: "The recruits for 2024/2025 – Episode 7; England centre Manu Tuilagi has signed with Ciel & Blanc for the next two seasons. Welcome Manu!”
In the earlier Sale statement, Tuilagi spoke of the wrench it will be to leave Manchester when his contract expires at the end of this season.
“I have absolutely loved my time at Sale. It was a really tough conversation with Al (Sanderson), and a tough decision for everyone because my family and I have been really happy here.
“I never thought I’d leave Leicester and it was a big move, but since arriving here I have grown a lot as a person. I have developed as a player but more so as a person.
“The environment at Sale is amazing. It’s what makes me want to get out of bed and put the work in, and I genuinely love coming in every day. If I have helped the young players then that is great, but they have helped me so much too and I’m going to miss them all.
“The mindset from the start of the season was to win the Premiership and that is what we are all focused on now. Knowing it’s my last season here will give me an extra push to make sure I leave on a high.”
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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