Matt O’Connor praised Manu Tuilagi, Matt Toomua and his backroom staff after the Leicester Tigers centres made their comebacks from injury.

Internationals Tuilagi and Toomua formed the centre partnership in Sunday’s Champions Cup game against Munster Rugby after lengthy lay-offs.

They played the full 80 minutes of the game and afterwards head coach O’Connor was full of praise for their efforts.

“It is enormous to get them back on the field,” said O’Connor. “I cannot describe how proud I am of those two lads.

“That is an enormous 80 minutes and hats off to the medical team, they’ve done an incredible job to get them back into a position to be able to play 80 minutes today.

“Coming back after a significant lay-off to put in 80 minutes like that is great credit to them for their professionalism, and also to the staff here,” O’Connor added.