Manu Tuilagi explains 'sort of smiling and laughing' red card reaction

Manu Tuilagi has revealed his light-hearted reaction to Saturday night's third-minute banishment of Tom Curry. The flanker was yellow carded for head-on-head contact with Juan Cruz Mallia that was soon upgraded to a red, the third time in four matches that England had a sin-binning upgraded by the foul play review officer.

Curry’s exit appeared set to leave the underdog England facing an opening-round Rugby World Cup defeat. However, they instead caused an upset, finding the determination to boss the breakdown and emerge with a fully deserved 27-10 success despite being a man short for 77 minutes.

Asked for his reaction about Curry getting sent from the field, Tuilagi explained: “I was sort of smiling and laughing. No, because we have had a tough preparation. We have a lot of challenges that life has thrown towards us but just because we have a lot of challenge doesn’t mean it is going to stop.

“But that’s life, that’s life. You have just got to find a way to deal with it. Tomorrow is going to be different; a new day, a new challenge and so on. We talked about the belief and the trust. You have got to trust each other.

“We worked hard on it. We said just commit to it and be on the same page in terms of not being in no man’s land. But the effort is the most important thing. We said, 80 minutes of our lives, give it all you have got.”

They successfully did and while Tuilagi admitted to smiling/laughing at the challenge England were given when Curry was sanctioned, he added that his Sale teammate was naturally distraught with his red card.

“He’s gutted, as you would. He’s a human being, so it’s for us to get around him and make sure he is okay. Now we have just got to wait and see, not make any conclusion. We just wait and see what comes of the red card,” he said.

Curry’s exit left England a forward short at the scrum and they tackled that imbalance by getting Tuilagi to pack down and fill the vacancy. “Loved it. I loved it,” he charmed before recalling he had done it previously 12 years ago

“I think once before. Against Ireland, I think it was 2011; I loved it. So when Tommy (Harrison, England scrum coach) was onto me during the week, he was, ‘If something happens, will you get in the scrum?’ I was, ‘Yes. YES!’”

The unexpected big win over Argentina has now finally drawn a line under head coach Steve Borthwick’s unimpressive nine-game England tenure prior to Saturday’s 10th-outing success in Marseille. Tuilagi was chuffed for the staff but warned England must be on their game when they face Japan next weekend in Nice.

“Those guys work so hard. No one works harder than Steve. For us to put a performance in for Steve, Kevin (Sinfield) and Richard (Wigglesworth), for the whole team and the fans, that will never change and tomorrow we go again, get to work again.

“We prepare as a team. We know Japan is going to be a massive threat so we have got to recover and make sure we get our bodies right again and get the plan. They are very good. We know that Japan like to play, they like to move the ball around. As a backline, we just need to stay connected.”