Rekeiti Ma'asi-White: Meet Manu Tuilagi pupil on England's radar

Times

25-04-2025

Saracens are heading to Sale Sharks on Friday night for a Premiership showdown with significant play-off implications. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White, the latest Anglo-Tongan to burst on to the English rugby scene, was ready for battle the moment he stepped out of Sale's team meeting at Carrington.
Alex Sanderson, the director of rugby, has prepared his troops by showing them clips from the Gerard Butler film, 300, a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae when a band of outnumbered Spartans fought valiantly to the death against the Persian army led by Xerxes.
'We talked about how it's going to be a huge battle,' Ma'asi-White says. Sanderson's message will have been for Sale to write a different ending. It could be vital in their quest for a Premiership semi-final. Three of Sale's last four regular-season games are against title rivals, with this Saracens match followed by a trip to Leicester Tigers and then a home game against Bristol Bears.
Friday's clash will throw up a fascinating head-to-head between two former house-mates: Ma'asi-White, who is enjoying a breakthrough season with Sale, and Olly Hartley, the Saracens inside centre. They came through the Wasps ranks together, shared the club's academy house and now form part of a promising new generation of English midfielders.
Although it has been a threadbare position for England of late, the uncapped prospects being monitored by Steve Borthwick, the head coach, include Oscar Beard, Max Ojomoh, Joseph Woodward, Seb Atkinson, Hartley and Ma'asi-White.
'There is lots of competition there,' Ma'asi-White says. 'I am a big fan of Seb Atkinson. Olly is a big threat when it comes to ball-carrying. He can play with the ball as well. He is a good guy.
'I want to play my best rugby over the next couple of weeks and hopefully push through, whether it can be England A opportunities coming up or the senior squad. That is down to me. I need to keep doing my thing in the middle.'
The prospect of fielding some Tongan muscle in the red rose midfield is an enticing one for Borthwick, who invited Ma'asi-White to England A training last year. One of the most prized assets in the modern game is a centre who can dominate the gainline and is also blessed with a deftness of touch. Sione Tuipulotu, the Scotland captain, is the benchmark in that regard.
Ma'asi-White studies Tuipulotu, as he studied Ma'a Nonu while growing up as the youngest sibling in a rugby-mad family. Ma'asi-White's father, Vili, played at the 2003 World Cup and won 36 caps for Tonga. He played for Ampthill until he was 41 and now coaches.
When Vili was playing for Leeds, he was friends with Andy Tuilagi and, by extension, the whole clan. They would come over to the house for drinks. Ma'asi-White was a young boy at the time who supported Leicester Tigers because of the Tuilagis. For his 12th birthday he was given a Leicester shirt with Tuilagi on the back.
So it was quite something for Ma'asi-White to join Sale when Wasps folded and to be set up in a master-apprentice relationship with Manu Tuilagi. 'It was good to learn from him,' he says. 'He is just so smart. He would give off this energy every day. We would talk about detail on the pitch. We would watch his good clips and my bad ones! He would also keep telling me that the opportunity would come, to stay patient.'
That was sage advice. While his former England Under-20 team-mates Henry Arundell, Chandler Cunningham-South and Asher Opoku-Fordjour have won senior Test caps and others are established in the Premiership, Ma'asi-White started this season on loan with Caldy.
But Sanderson left room for him in the Sale squad; a show of belief that this could be his breakthrough season in the absence of Tuilagi. Ma'asi-White earned his chance against Toulon in the Champions Cup and took it. A few big confidence-boosting carries and he was off and running.
'He is this good now at 22. Imagine where he is going to be when he is 25,' Sanderson said. 'It is exciting. He's got a good rugby bloodline, a good lineage. Vili, his dad, is a legend. Rugby is in his blood. He is such a natural player.
'You need an inside centre who can own the gainline, a Brad Barritt or a Manu Tuilagi, someone the No10 can tip off too when he is under pressure, someone who can protect the 10's outside shoulder. You need someone you can rely on to win those collisions.
'Ricky is more than a player who just dominates the gainline. He has a softness of hands and the ability to spot a gap and hit a line. That gets you through the tackle but he has the ability to offload it out the back as well.
'In the games he has played he has topped our work-rate stats. We have a rate of high-intensity exposures and he has beaten everyone. You add to that some confidence and some size, because of the power in his genetics, he is going to be some player. He needs to stay fit and keep motivated.'
Ma'asi-White insists there is no issue in that regard. His brother, Samson, captained England Under-18 and was on the books at Northampton Saints but had to give up on his dream of becoming a professional rugby player when he fell ill and required a kidney transplant. 'That was a shock,' he says. 'It was very sad. He was developing into a very good hooker when he had to retire. It has definitely motivated me. I felt like I was the only one left so I want to try and be my best and play at a good level.'
Ma'asi-White's father watches every minute of Sale training and gives his own feedback before every game. 'He's always on my arse,' Ma'asi-White says, laughing. 'I kind of like it. It pushes me to go further. I am trying to fill Manu's boots by bringing that energy. I want to be a player who can do it all. I want to make my own name.'
One of the biggest challenges will be improving his communication. Naturally humble and deferential as the youngest sibling in a Tongan family, Ma'asi-White is also playing in between George Ford and Rob du Preez, two vocal, commanding figures. It can be daunting to speak up in that company.
Sale have employed a communications expert to help him find his own voice.
'That is probably his biggest [area for] growth,' Sanderson said. 'He is used to taking instruction. The family humbles you. He needs to step out of that and become a leader, to drive decisions more. George and Rob want him to talk. It is just part of the process. You have to grow into these roles.'
Ma'asi-White has gone from the Championship to the Champions Cup and now a Premiership title challenge in one breakthrough season. He is looking forward to catching up with Hartley after the game on Friday night. But first the battle.
'We know what Saracens can do. Good forwards. Smart backs. But our attack has been pretty good the last few weeks,' Ma'asi-White says. 'It's going to be physical. It's going to be a tough battle. We talked about going to war with the brothers. I was ready to go when I left the meeting.'
Sale Sharks v Saracens