manu tuilagi's recovery from a persistent groin injury remains a distant prospect and the wrecking ball centre is racing to be fit to play any further rugby this season the 23 year old has not played since being forced off during leicester’s champions cup tie against ulster last october the initial prognosis was that he would be sidelined for six to eight weeks, but that was soon exposed as wishful thinking a series of target dates for his comeback have come and gone, and now it appears tuilagi won’t resurface until the last month of the season — if at all manu tuilagi has not featured since injuring his groin playing for leicester back in october  the england centre is in a race against time to be fit for the world cup, starting in september  sportsmail understands he is setting his sights on playing four or five games for the tigers in late april and may, but only time will tell if that ambition can be realised england were already resigned to being without their midfield colossus for the entire rbs 6 nations campaign, but having had tuilagi in camp to oversee his rehabilitation, the management are aware that he is not close to being match ready the latest bulletin represented another setback in an alarmingly drawn out recovery ‘he is making good progress and is doing straight line running, but he still has some way to go,’ said head coach stuart lancaster ahead of another calcutta cup encounter which will not feature tuilagi ‘i think he’ll come good at the end of the season certainly phil pask (physio) has done a good job with him, but it’s not in the near future by the end of the season he’ll be back playing ‘it is about making sure his groin and the healing around it is strong enough to cope with the forces he puts through it he is a powerful man and he needs to make sure the groin has healed sufficiently it is a step by step process to make sure he does not re injure it, so that is why people are very cautious’ leicester and england are keen to build their attacking game around tuilagi’s forceful ball carrying but the pattern in the last two years has been for longer spells injured than fit he has made only four appearances for the tigers this season, following a modest tally of 10 last season in a campaign disrupted by a prolonged recovery from a pectoral injury tuilagi is a destructive figure but when he breaks down it takes a long time for his powerful body to heal in early december, his club’s director of rugby, richard cockerill, predicted an imminent return and outlined just what leicester and england were missing ‘manu should be back by the end of december,’ he said at the time ‘in the modern game you’ve got to be able to dent the line of the opposition — you need physicality and manu gives you that he has been huge for england the midfield is the biggest problem england have and manu gives you that one position solved’ tuilagi could make a return in the final month of the season but his world cup place is in jeopardy  tuilagi has struggled with injury over the past two seasons and has only played nine tests since 2012  worryingly for lancaster and his assistants, uncertainty over tuilagi’s ability to withstand the rigours of his profession remains part of the problem in 2012, he played 10 times for his country, culminating in a devastating contribution to the record win over the all blacks at twickenham since then he has made only nine test appearances, four of them as a replacement and one of those for the lions on a tour where his impact was undermined by yet another injury despite attempts to alleviate his condition using prolotherapy — involving injections of a sugar solution into the bone — it is thought that a recent improvement has been brought about by intensive physiotherapy leicester will hope his best case scenario of a return for the business end of the season ignites their aviva premiership title challenge, while england will want tuilagi to join their initial world cup training squad in june, ready to play a full, active part england head coach stuart lancaster confirmed tuilagi is no closer to making a return  lancaster oversees training as his side prepare to face scotland in the six nations on saturday  how england will line up against scotland at twickenham on saturday  he remains the most potent weapon in the team’s back line, when available he can splinter the best defences and has even spooked the all blacks with his explosive exploits in midfield that continues to be the primary area of concern for lancaster despite the advances made by jonathan joseph during this championship, to the extent that henry slade and sam burgess have been under close scrutiny in camp this week that pair are seen as world cup contenders billy twelvetrees appears to be running out of chances to prove his test credentials at 12, luther burrell is striving to claim that position and kyle eastmond appears to have been tried and discarded lancaster has said tuilagi will be considered at inside centre, if that is the position to fill, while he was even shunted out to the wing in new zealand last june whatever the number on his back, england will surely pick him, but by now they would ideally have spent ample time fine tuning their centre combination instead, if tuilagi is eventually cleared for a comeback, there will be a maximum of three pre  tournament friendlies to reintegrate him before the main event comes around
stuart lancaster the last two season tuilagi leicester groin october england the last month of the season manu tuilagi
manu tuilagi has not played since october after injuring groin for leicester  england centre has missed a series of target dates for making a retuern  tuilagi is not likely to feature again until the last month of the season  stuart lancaster confirmed tuilagi is not close to a return yet  tuilagi has been hampered by injuries in the last two season 