Ex-international admits scary encounter with Alesana Tuilagi still haunts him five years later

Before England and Leicester’s Manu Tuilagi was terrorising defences across the rugby world, his brothers had already created a legacy of leaving a trail of semi-conscious players in their wake. 

Ex-Tigers and Samoa winger Alesana, who won 38 Test caps (37 for the Samoans and one for Pacific Islands), was one brother from the iconic family that had a long history of making the life of wingers or fly-halves – many of whom were half his size – a living hell. 

While it was unfortunate for some players to encounter him, that was ultimately their job and former Canada winger Phil Mackenzie has now shared memories of the occasion when he thought it was a good idea to square up to Tuilagi.

Drew Mitchell talks to Jim Hamilton in the latest episode of The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PlaySkip BackwardSkip Forward

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

The Video Cloud video was not found.

Error Code: VIDEO_CLOUD_ERR_VIDEO_NOT_FOUND

Session ID: 2025-06-09:cad182045b28b413c9ae34af Player Element ID: brightcove-embedded-video

OK

Close Modal Dialog

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

Drew Mitchell talks to Jim Hamilton in the latest episode of The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Toronto was the location, the Pacific Nations Cup the competition in 2015 in the lead-up to the World Cup in England which brought the curtain down on Tuilagi’s career. 

Mackenzie recalled on Twitter: “Here’s a scary story… once upon a time I pushed Alesana Tuilagi. He pushed me back. I pushed him again. He then looked me straight in the eyes. I thought my life was over. It still haunts me to this day. The end.”

Here’s a scary story…

Once upon a time I pushed Alesana Tuilagi. He pushed me back. I pushed him again. He then looked me straight in the eyes. I thought my life was over. It still haunts me to this day. The end. #rwc2019 pic.twitter.com/GMGd6XGuBd

— LEANSQUAD (@Phil_Mackenzie1) November 1, 2019

What is most remarkable about this situation is that the ex-Sale Sharks winger had another go at his opponent after pushing him the first time before the touch judge eventually intervened. 

Samoa ran out victorious in that game, but Mackenzie survived to tell the tale even if he still breaks out in a sweat recalling it.