Bedroom coffee shop helps Manu Tuilagi gear up for England return

As and when Manu Tuilagi comes off the England bench on Saturday you can be sure of two things: first, that his arrival is greeted by the loudest cheer of the match; second, that the first time he gets his hands on the ball there will be 80,000 people holding their collective breath.

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For all the goodwill that comes his way, it is hard – and it has been for some time – to watch the Leicester centre without a mild sense of dread, to avoid looking through your fingers as he gallops towards defenders.

Undoubtedly there have been signs of a certain robustness this season – the try he scored from the halfway line against Newcastle springs to mind, as do a couple of bruising bursts against the Scarlets – but the will-he-won’t-he narrative that has continued all autumn only adds to the apprehension that comes with the anticipation.

Eddie Jones cannot afford to admit as much, for it is his job to instil a bulletproof confidence in his heavyweight centre but the England coach will be as relieved as anyone for Tuilagi to get a few more minutes under his belt in the Test arena against Australia without any adverse reaction to his latest groin problems.

“I am so pleased for Manu because he has really stuck at it,” said Jones, and to put his patience over Tuilagi into perspective, he has had him on the field for only 16 minutes of his 33 matches in charge. “It’s disheartening when you get little injuries that just stop you from playing. All we’re wanting is for him to do the basics well – good straight, hard running, good hard, low tackling and work off the ball.”

For all of his injury setbacks, Tuilagi seems to handle them remarkably well. It is easy to imagine each one driving the 27-year-old further into despair but that is not in keeping with his persona around the England camp this month. Their Bagshot base is the kind of place where time can often stand still but Tuilagi has been keeping his teammates entertained at the pool table – “He plays rubbish in the morning then takes everyone’s money at night!” Owen Farrell said – and running a coffee shop from his bedroom.