The England juggernaut is relishing being back and unperturbed by the imposing home record of Clermont Auvergne
"The muscle was completely off the bone," Manu Tuilagi says with a wince as he pulls up his training top and bares his chest. The England and Leicester centre taps the still vivid scar covering the reason he was unable to play rugby for five months. He is only days away from a defining match in his comeback as Leicester travel to France to play Clermont Auvergne in a Heineken Cup quarter-final. Clermont have an imposing home record, having not lost once in their last 74 matches at Stade Marcel-Michelin, and Tuilagi's return to fitness is a vital boost to Leicester's hopes of securing a famous victory.
Tuilagi will soon talk with relish about facing such formidable opposition but, first, it seems appropriate for him to address his more personal struggles this season. "See the cut here?" he says in a stark dressing-room at Leicester's training ground. "I tore my pectoral last September against Newcastle. The surgeon had to go in there [his index finger runs along a purple line high up on his chest] and drag the pectoral tendon back on to the bone. He then put two bolts into the humerus and stuck it back in place." Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.
"The muscle was completely off the bone," Manu Tuilagi says with a wince as he pulls up his training top and bares his chest. The England and Leicester centre taps the still vivid scar covering the reason he was unable to play rugby for five months. He is only days away from a defining match in his comeback as Leicester travel to France to play Clermont Auvergne in a Heineken Cup quarter-final. Clermont have an imposing home record, having not lost once in their last 74 matches at Stade Marcel-Michelin, and Tuilagi's return to fitness is a vital boost to Leicester's hopes of securing a famous victory.
Tuilagi will soon talk with relish about facing such formidable opposition but, first, it seems appropriate for him to address his more personal struggles this season. "See the cut here?" he says in a stark dressing-room at Leicester's training ground. "I tore my pectoral last September against Newcastle. The surgeon had to go in there [his index finger runs along a purple line high up on his chest] and drag the pectoral tendon back on to the bone. He then put two bolts into the humerus and stuck it back in place." Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.