Rugby World Cup: Tuilagi a rare shining light for England

England's Manu Tuilagi in action. Photo / Dean Purcell

As England embark on their long and presumably quiet journey home tomorrow morning following their quarter-final defeat to France, one player can be justified in holding his head a little higher than the rest.

He is the only player to place his hand over the red rose on England's jersey during the national anthems at Eden Park last night, the guy who played his heart out against the French - the one born in Moto'otua, Samoa.

Manu Tuilagi is only 20 and the youngest to play for England in a World Cup. To say he has a bright future following his performances in this World Cup is an understatement.

Only a year ago the powerfully-built centre was trying to make the Leicester Tigers team. Last night he was England's main threat in a stuttering backline - on both attack and defence.

It was only his seventh cap after making his debut against Wales in August and his first defeat in an international.

"It doesn't taste good,'' Tuilagi said of the 19-12 loss. "For me personally, I have to go back and work hard and hopefully there will be more games coming.''

He can be sure of that. Following a disastrous campaign, coach Martin Johnson admitted to apprehension before selecting Tuilagi to play his debut in that match against Wales and conceded the player's effort at Eden Park was one of the few highlights and that he had every reason to be proud of his performance. "He's been outstanding, he's come a long, long way,'' Johnson said.

Tuilagi was one of the few shining lights on a gloomy tour for England. Tales of boozy nights and backfiring 'jokes' with hotel staff dogged the squad and Johnson's game plan seemed woefully inadequate.

Jonny Wilkinson is well past his best and the experiment of playing Toby Flood alongside him in an attempt to drum up some creativity was laudable but ended in failure against a French team which simply did the basics well and finished their opportunities.

England seemed uninterested and they were certainly less fit than France, but Tuilagi didn't let his teammate's malaise affect him.

He followed his show of emotion in the early formalities with a style of play which gave new meaning to the word direct. He crunched first five-eighths Morgan Parra in a big tackle and then went on an outstanding run up the middle in broken play.

He made a few minor mistakes on defence but his awareness in this area of the game will only improve with experience.

Tuilagi isn't the most vocal of men but after the match his voice was reduced to a whisper - albeit with an English accent - as he recounted his World Cup experiences.

"It means everything [playing for England], just knowing that everyone's behind you and supporting you - all of England and all the Samoan people as well,'' he said. "Thank you to all of them for the awesome support.

"For me, I performed well but we still lost. There are still a lot of things to work on. We're a lot better than that. We never doubted, we believed in ourselves that we could win that game. Even in the game we believed we could do this. We didn't make it and I guess it takes a bit more than belief to win the World Cup.''

Tuilagi said he would go back to Leicester and work on his game. He said he enjoyed playing for the club and wasn't tempted to ply his trade in the Southern Hemisphere just yet.

One of the few mishaps of Tuilagi's tour was being fined $10,000 for wearing the wrong brand of mouthguard - just like his brother Alesana Tuilagi, the Samoa wing. But even that failed to ruffle Manu's feathers. Whereas cash-strapped Samoa relied on fundraising, Manu laughed it off and said the RFU would cover it.

In Manu Tuilagi, the RFU have a prize worth keeping happy.