England centre Manu Tuilagi has spoken out for the first time about the assault charges that saw him dropped from the England squad and suspended from playing for the national team until January.
Tuilagi claims the incident has been blown out of proportion and that he did not actually assault anyone, but pled guilty merely to speed up the judicial process and get it sorted before the start of the World Cup.
He did, however, also reveal that a recurrence in March of the groin injury that has kept him sidelined for so long meant that he would have missed the World Cup anyway – and that Stuart Lancaster was aware of this.
“My side of the story is not out and this is my side of the story,” Tuilagi told PA Sport at the Pacific Warriors premiere in central London.
“I always own up to what I’ve done. I feel with this one that I’ve owned up to what I’ve not done. That’s why I feel it’s important to get my side of the story out. I didn’t assault any of the police officers. It looks like I have basically beaten up the two police officers, which is not the case.
“In a way I feel like I’ve been harshly treated. It’s a bit harsh, but life is harsh, you’ve got to put it behind you. I’m still young, I can still hopefully make a good comeback.”
The incident took place back in April, and started when Tuilagi left a nightclub and argued with a taxi driver. He claims he was then followed by two police officers, who started the altercation by putting their hands on him.
“We started walking down the road trying to get another taxi and that is when the two police officers came along,” Tuilagi said.
“They came up to me from behind and I felt someone try to grab my hands so I just pulled my hands away.
“That’s it. Basically, that is assault. You can just touch someone and that is assault. Absolutely they touched me first and I had no idea they were police officers. That’s out there and that’s why I want to get my side of the story out.”
When asked why he had pleaded guilty, Tuilagi replied: “That’s a good question. We pleaded guilty because hopefully we wanted to get the case finished and done with.
“That was the plan – to go in, plead guilty and finish the case on that day, which we did. If we’d gone in and not pleaded guilty, we’d have to have adjourned it and that would have been right in the middle of the World Cup.
“It was the plan we went in with, with the lawyer. It was my lawyer. The lawyers said ‘this is the plan’ so I was like, ‘the lawyer knows what he is doing and I go with him because I trust him’.”
It seems, however, that it was largely irrelevant anyway, as Tuilagi revealed that he broke down again in March with the same groin injury that has bedevilled him for so long and will now keep him out until Christmas time.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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Without knowing the full ins-and-outs of the story, we can only look at the facts. He was charged, plead guilty and fined, sticking with Lancaster’s history of dealing with these indiscretions he had no choice but to ban him. Whether he actually did it or not, he got himself in a bit of trouble and is paying the price.
If he is out until Christmas injured, it makes the Rugby World Cup irrelevant for him, and probably rules him out of the Six Nations. There are a number of players pushing for selection and with JJ settling in at 13, Manu would be best served getting himself fit and then just getting himself playing rugby for Leicester in 2016. If he has a good second half of the season, he can force himself into the touring party for 2016 and then try to work his way in contention for the Lions in 2017 and World Cup 2019. He’s still young and has a lot of rugby ahead of him, possibly two more Lions tours and World Cups if he’s fit and selected, so this shouldn’t be the end of him.
This sounds about as one sided as the story the media printed.
Conveniently ommitting the fact that he kicked the taxi wing mirror and grabbed the taxi driver (supposedly by the throat), which is the reason the poice officers wanted to talk to him in the first place.
As for “so I just pulled my hands away”, that doesn’t count as assult so i feel there may have been a little push involved.
The media make it sound like he went berserk raining punches on the officers like they were Chris Ashton, but this makes it sound like he was an innocent victim assulted by the officers. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle
As always Leon!
And the small fact that he’s been found guilty in a court of law. He can blame his lawyers if he likes, but I suspect that they advised him to plead guilty on the basis that he was likely to be found guilty. With the story being as you describe, with witnesses.
Legal definition of assault is that the victim had a fear of an impending attack, not the attack itself. So assault in the way Tuilagi describes is perfectly possible.
True however he was charged with assault by beating which requires physical contact
I agree…in other words, a ‘battery’.
Previous case law has set out the terminology for charging for a battery as “assault by beating”.
Whilst not wanting to split hairs, Tuilagi is still correct in saying he did not assault anyone. The reporting of the case in the media is another classic misuse of legal definitions.
Oh Manu! Stay contrite or say nothing at all.
Next week we’ll have a story from the taxi driver on how he feared for his life etc, etc.
Why rake it all up again.
Whatever the truth may be ,we have a serious possibility of a very promising career being ruined before it really begins. He needs to grow up and quick. He also needs the guidance and help of his club side, and anyone else who has his genuine interests at heart.
Cockerill doesn’t help. We all know how hot headed he was during his career and some of his outpourings on this issue have been unhelpful to say the least.
Clearly one from the Leicester handbook on
‘Wasn’t me Gov ….honest..coz…… it never is our fault.’
Next we’ll have….
Dean Richards denying his guilt because ‘the blood capsule someone planted on my winger’
Martin Johnson’s ‘RWC 2011 and England was…………….. nothing to do with me’
Richard Cockerill ‘l may look like a pig and have acted like a pig as a player and as a coach but deep down I am just misunderstood …………….like King John or a certain Mr Nixon’
Manu -Don’t plead guilty to something you have not done. That is a basic rule in our legal system.
Next Leicester City Council will tell us that Richard III was not hunch-backed, was a decent king, did not steal the throne from his nephews and absolutely, certainly did not have them executed in the Tower Of London in 1483.
Very unhelpful to come out publicly with this, especially at this point in time. Also, I thought the point of pleading guilty in this fashion was to keep a lid on it. The fact remains that he pleaded guilty and was convicted. I’m no legal expert, but isn’t claiming innocence in this type of public way, after a guilty conviction, some kind of lesser crime in itself? Contempt of court or something?
Having said that, I can believe Tuilagi’s story here for three main reasons:
1. Don’t recall any evidence being published – contrast, for example, with the footage of Tindall saying hello to a friend in a bar in NZ 2011. Admittedly that was not a court case so quite different but, in Tuilagi’s case, apart from the taxi driver I can’t remember even seeing the usual misguided rants from members of the public who happened to be watching and fancy running their mouths of to some gutter hack. Usually some grubby tabloid would get hold of something on this, at least some grainy CCTV footage, to run after the conviction.
2. I can quite easily see how a bloke of Tuilagi’s frame and general appearance getting a bit angry in public could be misconstrued as a more violent episode than it actually was.
3. Sorry to say it, but he does seem pretty dopey and the sort of person who would readily accept a criminal conviction, just because a lawyer told him to do so.
IF he’s telling the truth, if the RFU (or Lancaster, whoever) pressurised him into pleading guilty despite being innocent, well questions need to be asked. Personally I want those questions to wait until November…