Setback: Manu Tuilagi will not play for England against Wales due to a new hamstring injury
(Picture: Getty Images)England are “optimistic” that Manu Tuilagi will be able to feature in this year’s Six Nations despite being ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Wales at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones will leave it until the day of the game to announce whether Joe Marchant or Elliot Daly will replace Tuilagi and line up alongside Henry Slade in the centre.
The 30-year-old’s absence, announced just hours after he was named in the starting XV, is a bitter blow for England.
“He had a slight hamstring strain at training yesterday, so he's left camp and is at home,” said forwards coach Richard Cockerill.
“Manu is in pretty good spirits. It's not a serious issue. Unfortunately this is part of professional sport. He’s still got a smile on his face and is optimistic that he'll be back playing for club and country pretty soon.
“On that front it's pretty positive, but obviously we're disappointed for him personally and it's disappointing for the team as he'd have been an important part of the squad.”
Cockerill said Tuilagi’s replacement will be “decided over the next 24 hours”.
Tuilagi was set to play his first Six Nations match for two years, and Jones – who must weigh up the merits of Marchant and Daly – said yesterday that England “have learned to play without him”.
“We’ve played most of the last two years without Manu,” he said. “When he’s there we intend to use his power and if he’s not there we find another way to manufacture power.”
Marchant, who started the first two games of the championship, was released back to Harlequins on Tuesday evening and was set to start their Premiership fixture at Worcester on Friday night. Instead, he was whisked back into camp and trained with his England team-mates this morning.
Daly started the championship in the No13 jersey, with Marchant outside him on the wing after recovering from Covid-19. Against Italy, Marchant moved to centre with Jack Nowell (who has also played outside centre) on the wing.
