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.
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.”
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.
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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