Manu is an absolute monster says Itoje

Maro Itoje has warned the rest of the World Cup nations heading for Japan that Manu Tuilagi is an “absolute monster” after overcoming numerous injury problems to help England destroy Ireland in record breaking style 57-12 at Twickenham today. Try scorer Tuilagi put in a man of the match performance in the No13 jersey normally worn by the injured Henry Slade and showed what England missed during the lengthy period he was kept out of the game by serious injuries. Head coach Eddie Jones believes there is still 20 per cent to come in terms of the Leicester centre’s fitness and Itoje is excited about what that could mean for England who are in a tough World Cup pool with France, Argentina, Tonga and USA. Itoje, who put in one of his most complete performances for England, joined Tuilagi on the try scoring list and said: “Manu is an awesome player, extremely talented and when he is at his best he is an absolute monster and it is great to have him in our side. “ I have payed against him a couple of times at club level and I know how deadly he can be.” Itoje helped turn the Ireland line out into a disaster area and paid tribute to the coaching of Steve Borthwick and the input from back up locks Joe Launchbury and Charlie Ewels that helped the Lions lock and his fellow Saracens jumper George Kruis dominate this key area at Twickenham. He added: “ It is a reflection of the work the line out leaders have done throughout the week and we have a fantastic coach in Steve Borthwick. It was a lot better than last week and we just want to keep improving. Today as a good win but we are not the finished article and there is so much more to come. This was Ireland’s first competitive game and so we know they are not at their best. The challenge is for us to do this wherever we go and we are in a good place.”