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Rugby News

Tuilagi stars in England victory

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Manu Tuilagi is "loving" every minute of being back in an England shirt.

Fans across the country are too.

Tuilagi scored twice in England's 34-point, 57-14 win over Italy at Twickenham and played provider on another to set up Brad Shields for his first Test try in the Six Nations at Twickenham.

The Tigers centre impressed enough to win the Fans' Man of the Match award at full-time too.

"I'm really loving every minute of it," he said at full-time when asked about being back in front of a jam-packed Twickenham crowd.

Speaking at full-time, Tuilagi was modest in his appraisal of his own performance as he credited the England forwards for setting up the platform for the back-line to play.

"We did a lot of good things out there, especially the forwards who really took it to them [Italy] and set up a good platform for us backs to play," said Tuilagi.

"I'm very pleased, it was a good team performance and good to come away with the win."

The Tigers centre had Twickenham on its feet 20 minutes into the match when he burst through the Italian defence on the halfway line to run in for his first Test try in five years.

"I'm really loving every minute of it."

Just seven minutes later, he stepped his way through the Azzurri line and passed inside for Shields to score before Tuilagi claimed another seven minutes into the second half on the end of a long pass from hooker Jamie George.

He was quick, however, to point out that, while the England side would enjoy the win, the job was not over yet and they would be back to work on Monday ahead of the final-round fixture against Scotland next weekend.

"There is a lot of growth in our team. So, we'll enjoy tonight and then get back to work on Monday," said Tuilagi.