In a week where the All Blacks’ Barrett brothers made headlines, the world was reminded that the Tuilagi family still go down as rugby’s most formidable ensemble, certainly in terms of size.
A photo has gone viral on Twitter of Manu Tuilagi in Japan alongside his brothers, Henry, Freddie, Alesana and Vavae, and people cannot believe the size of them.
The 18 stone Manu is easily one of the most fearsome and powerful players on the planet currently, but he is dwarfed by his four brothers in this picture, all of whom were also former players.
All five, as well as Anitelea (Andy) have had stints with Leicester Tigers over the years, as they built a rugby dynasty at Welford Road.
What’s even more staggering is that former Leicester and Perpignan no8 Henry looks about twice the size of all the others.
The Tuilagi name is synonymous with power on the rugby field, but Henry perhaps had the most fearsome reputation, and many players will be glad he’s hung up his boots.
Manu is the fourth brother in his family to have competed at a RWC. Freddie Tuilagi was in Samoa’s squad for RWC 1991 (but did not play) and played in one match at RWC 1995. Alesana Tuilagi played for Samoa at RWC 2007, 2011 and 2015. Henry Tuilagi played two matches for Samoa at RWC 2007. Andy Tuilagi was named in the Samoa squad for RWC 2007, but had to withdraw due to injury.
Interestingly, Manu was named Manusamoa, after the name of the Samoan national team, the Manu Samoa. This was because his older brother Freddie had been selected in the Samoa squad for RWC 1991, the year he was born.
In this week’s episode Jim Hamilton discusses everything that has been going in the opening two weeks of the Rugby World Cup.