The new Tuilagi? Sale’s Ma’asi-White on following his idol

Leicester Tigers vs. Sale Sharks: Premiership Semi-final

Location: Mattioli Woods Welford Road Saturday, June 7 Kick-off: 15:30 BST

Sale center Rekeiti Ma’asi-White wants to clear up something before Saturday’s Premiership semi-final between the two teams.

His uncle did indeed give him a Leicester shirt when he was 11 years old. However, it’s not quite accurate to say he was a Tigers fan.

Because a young Ma’asi-White didn’t care much about the front badge or the number 12 at all.

He claims that Manu was a big fan. “I only supported Leicester because of Manu,” I thought.

He is of Samoan descent, and I am half Tongan, half English.

“I aspired to accomplish what he did,” he said. At the time, I was a forward. Thankfully, I made progress”!

It also included Tuilagi. Inspiration came from former All Black midfielders Malakai Fekitoa and Ma’a Nonu.

Tuilagi, however, was Ma’asi-White’s closest ally.

In the latter stages of his career, Ma’asi-White’s father Viliami, who represented Tonga at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, played with Manu’s brother Anitelea at Leeds. The two families shared a common goal.

When we lived in Leeds, Manu used to visit us for a little meal and conversation, says Ma’asi-White.

Ma’asi-White and fellow academy prospect Asher Opoku-Fordjour were both signed by Sale when Wasps went bankrupt in 2022. Tuilagi had previously moved to the north-west of Leicester for two years.

He claimed that I once resembled a rat. recalls their reunion with Ma’asi-White and recalls their backyard gatherings from a decade earlier.

“I did learn a lot from him after that,” he said.

However, Viliami is still his primary teacher.

Vili is now coaching Oundle, moving up to the fourth tier this year after playing into his forties.

Rekeiti, however, has a lot of impressive side projects.

Viliami will monitor every Sale training session from his Peterborough home.

Rekeiti receives a call with a list of things to do the morning before each game. He will have another chance to see if he has met those goals after that.

“It is technical, mental, and everything,” Ma’asi-White asserts.

He will say, “You are not running hard enough, you need to tackle harder,” and there is still more in you.

Ma’asi-White has dramatically improved.

The 22-year-old only made his first appearance for Sale in January, starting the season at Championship side Caldy on loan.

He helped the Sharks to a 33-7 victory under the pressure of George Ford and Rob du Preez, and he has been wearing the 12 shirt ever since.

In each of Sale’s last four games, Ma’asi-White has scored, demonstrating his ability to find gaps and knock down doors.

Last month, he received his first call into England’s senior squad.

At Welford Road, he will have a familiar face facing him. For a while, he and Joe Woodward served as England’s under-20 center partnership.

He has a good kicking game, good leg movement, and good distribution, according to Ma’asi-White, who described his former teammate as “a triple threat.”

We had some good times, and I believe we worked well together.

However, there will be only one celebration on Saturday.

Woodward and Leicester won last month at Welford Road, but Sale, who were up 10 points with 30 minutes to go, were able to reclaim the victory.

There has been a lot of discussion about Ma’asi-White saying, “We are not an 80-minutes team.”

We allowed them to play that second half, so there is a lot of discipline to be had going into this weekend in addition to minimizing penalty counts and using scrum and line out to extend the advantage throughout the entire game.

If they do, Sale will have a chance to win the Premiership.

Additionally, Ma’asi-White’s chances of facing England will increase.

He says going to Pennyhill Park for that two-day camp was thrilling and it was unique to witness all these big-time stars.

I decided to give it everything, so I decided to go with that. I was completely exhausted in the taxi home, and I had no energy.

“I have to take it step by step and do my best here, but my goal is to visit Argentina,” she said.