HE SAT OUT the win over Scotland on Saturday but England centre Manu Tuilagi is available for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with Ireland.
The Leicester Tigers man has recovered from the ankle injury which ruled him out of the Calcutta Cup showdown at Twickenham.
“The last message we had about Manu was that he’s fit and available to train. He’s coming in this afternoon. He’s available for Sunday,” England boss Stuart Lancaster said today.
Billy Twelvetrees impressed in midfield on his Test debut against the Scots but Lancaster hinted that the Samoan-born Tuilagi will start at Lansdowne Road.
“There are selection decisions across the field and that’s one of them,” he said. “Billy played well and Brad’s contribution as always was positive But Manu brings a unique set of skills and attributes to the game and the team, as we saw in his performance against the All Blacks.
“Genuinely, I’ll wait and see how he trains tomorrow and on Wednesday before I make any decisions on the centre partnership. The reason I prefer to announce the team later in the week is that it allows me to look at the players in training and see who’s up to speed and who isn’t.”
Ireland began their campaign with a win over Wales in Cardiff.
