Tuesday 8 March 2016 14:50, UK
Leicester Tigers boss Richard Cockerill believes Manu Tuilagi is not ready to play for England in next weekend's Six Nations clash with Wales.
The 24-year-old centre, who scored one of Leicester's four tries in an incident-packed 31-27 Aviva Premiership win at home to Exeter, looks set to be involved in the game at Twickenham after being recalled to the squad.
After a win which moved Leicester up two places to third, Tuilagi joined up with England again but Cockerill thinks he needs another five or six games before he is ready to play Test rugby after 15 months out injured.
Cockerill, Leicester's director of rugby, said: "Manu did some good things today but I don't think he is ready to play Test rugby.
"Even if you put him on the bench to be an impact player for the last half an hour, what happens if you have to put him on after five minutes?"
Cockerill said he would talk to England coach Eddie Jones but added: "He has all the power and if he wants to pick Manu he can pick Manu, whether that's the right thing or not.
"He is probably five or six games away from being fully fit to play 80 minutes of Test rugby.
"I'd love to keep him and look after him so we can manage his training week. At the moment he is not doing a full week's training because we need to save his load for game day.
"In a Test environment it's more difficult. Manu has still not played a huge amount of rugby after 15 months out of the game.
"He wants to be back in the mix. Whether that's right is for me and Eddie to have a discussion but, ultimately, it will be England's decision."
