Cockerill glad to avoid England poser
Leicester boss Richard Cockerill said he was glad he wasn’t in England coach Stuart Lancaster’s position after Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi staked claims for Test recalls in a 20-19 win over Saracens.
England face Wales in a crucial Six Nations encounter at Twickenham on Saturday with flyhalf/centre Flood and powerful midfielder Tuilagi looking to make their first appearances of the tournament – after knee and hamstring injuries respectively meant they missed the wins away to Scotland and Italy.
The pair were both in good form as Leicester gained a measure of revenge for their Premiership play-off final defeat by Saracens in May, albeit the champions were without 10 players because of England duty as they lost at home for the first time since October 2010.
Interim coach Lancaster must now decide whether to change a winning England team and that could mean dropping the likes of Saracens No.10 Charlie Hodgson and club-mate Brad Barritt if Flood and Tuilagi are to get back in.
Tuilagi may also have to convince the England management he’s now a more mature player than the one who jumped off an Auckland ferry to set the seal on the squad’s wretched World Cup campaign in New Zealand.
But former international Cockerill believes Tuilagi’s power could be useful against a Wales side who, like England, have won their first two Six Nations matches but lead the table on points difference.
“Manu had a long lay-off with injury but he’s now played two 80 minutes and was still charging for the line at the end, while Floody had a torrid time in last week’s disappointing defeat at Exeter and showed his quality with those [four] penalties,” Cockerill said.
“England have done well with the guys they have, so how they may or may not fit in those two is, happily, not my problem.
“Manu is a very good lad, very professional. But he’s also 20. You make wrong calls when you are growing up and you learn from them. Manu is a lad growing up who is also a very exciting player.”
