Manu Tuilagi injury theory circulating after centre lasts just 15 minutes

Many are questioning whether or not Manu Tuilagi was carrying an injury coming into England’s opening Guinness Six Nations match against France at the Stade de France.

Tuilagi lasted just 15 minutes against the French before being removed from the action.

There was no obvious incident leading to the injury and many were left questioning how fit the centre was coming into the game.

The fact that England head coach Eddie Jones had picked centres on the bench seemed to confirm for many that Tuilagi wasn’t fit coming into the game.

16' | FRA 10 – 0 ENG

REPLACEMENT | Jonathan Joseph comes on for Manu Tuilagi.#FRAvENG #CarryThemHome #GuinnessSixNations

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 2, 2020

Both Jonathan Joseph and Ollie Devoto were named on the bench, suggesting Jones was expecting that Tuilagi wasn’t likely to finish the match.

Tuilagi has struggled for fitness for the last four years and many fear the reoccurrence of the groin injury that accounted for much of his time spent on the sideline.

The BBC’s Sonia McLoughlin said there was no obvious injury to Tuilagi and that he ‘waved off’ ice when it was brought out.

The loss of both Tuilagi and Billy Vunipola prior to the match left the men in white light on carrying options going into the second half.

Having been plagued with hamstring and knee injuries between 2014 and 2017, visited a Samoan witch doctor in November, 2017. The witch doctor claimed Tuilagi’s problems were due to three spirits and massaged him for two hours per day, for four successive days to rid him of the spirits.

Jones nicknamed Tuilagi ‘pinball machine’ after his performance in England’s RWC 2019 warmup win over Wales.

WATCH: England player Tom Curry and coach Simon Amor give a press conference ahead of England’s first Six Nations game against France.