The unfortunate reason why Jack Nowell and Manu Tuilagi get on so well
Jack Nowell and Manu Tuilagi may pass like “ships in the night” when on England duty, but they have still developed a strong bond amid the shared misery of injury.
Nowell has battled back from a broken arm in time to take part in the three-Test series against Australia that begins at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Saturday, when he is expected to line up on the wing.
Tuilagi, however, misses the tour completely because of knee surgery that has written another painful chapter in a stop-start career ravaged by repeated spells in rehabilitation.
Both players have been only sporadically available to England, robbing the team of two hard-running gamebreakers who have since turned to each other for support in dark times.
“Manu’s in a similar position to me in terms of his injures. I speak to Manu quite a lot,” Nowell said.
“When we’re in camp I quite often room with him, our partners are quite close and our kids are a similar age as well.
“A few weeks before we came out here I went up to see him to see how he’s getting on. I quite often speak to the Chief.
“He’s always one of the first people to text me when he hears I’m injured at club level and vice versa.
“During the Six Nations we laughed quite a bit because we were always missing each other. We kept saying we were like ships in the night.
“We were both lined up to play in the Wales game together, but he was injured on his last training day. We kind of both know what we’re going through.
“A lot of the lads that are fit all the time and are lucky enough to stay injury free don’t really get that. When you’re in that unfortunate position and see the darkness of it…it’s quite tough.”
At the start of the season Nowell made changes to his lifestyle, including quitting alcohol to help reduce weight, and he quickly felt the benefits on the field.
But although the attempt to reduce the number of injuries that were requiring lengthy spells in the treatment room worked, misfortune struck at the end of the Six Nations that no preventative measure could have stopped.
“Touch wood I feel I’m in a good little spot at the moment. There wasn’t anything I could do about breaking my arm against France,” Nowell said.
“I jumped up for a high ball, landed on it funny and had a clean break of my radius. It’s just one of those things.
“The injuries I really did struggle with were the muscle tears and then rushing to get back after I had my foot operated on.
“I was desperate to get back for the autumn, but I didn’t make it because my foot wasn’t right.
“Then I was desperate to get back for the Six Nations, rushed it and tore my hamstring. Hopefully this is me going forward.
“If anyone works out how much I’ve been out for in total, please don’t tell me. It’s depressing!
“I try not to take things too seriously. If I started thinking like that I think I’d get bogged down quite a bit. At the end of the day we’re injured and it sucks, but things could be a lot worse.”
Latest Comments
It 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.
Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
Go to comments