Manu Tuilagi has made the extraordinary claim that the injury problems which have blighted him in recent years are over following a visit to a witch-doctor in Samoa who apparently exorcised a curse caused by three evil ghouls.

Tuilagi visited the nation of his birth last week upon the advice of his mother, who suggested seeing the spiritual healer after serious groin, hamstring and knee strains significantly disrupted his playing time for England and Leicester since 2014.

According to the 26-year-old, he made the hour-long boat ride from Samoa’s mainland to the island of Upolu from Monday to Thursday where the potentially deadly female spirits were banished by balming him with Fijian oil.

“I saw the witch-doctor for two hours a day and she said she found what the illness was,” Tuilagi said on BT Sport Rugby Tonight. “She massaged my whole body – all I needed was a towel and a Fijian oil.

“She was half Fijian and half Samoan and found there were three lady spirits who had married themselves on to me for the last three years. The witch-doctor told me that was why I had been injured. The spirits wanted me for themselves – they wanted to punish me and injuring me was the way to do it. Every time I played – bang. Now they have gone.

“But maybe when it comes out in this newspaper they will know again? This is the first time I have done it and I hope to be back playing in mid-December.”

Tuilgai visited Samoa with the blessing of Leicester’s director of rugby Matt O’Connor and club physio Ed Hollis and had to be accompanied by his brother Alessana at all times throughout the healing process.

“Hopefully when I come back and play for a long period of time, they’ll have to sack all the physios” Tuilagi said in jest. “I was always with my brother Alex. The conditions of the treatment meant I wasn’t able to go anywhere on my own.

“I wasn’t allowed to sleep in the room by myself so me and Alex set up a little camp in the living room in front of the TV. In most of these cases back home, the girls end up taking their victims alive and will never be seen.”

Tuilagi had endured a troubled time during the repeated injury setbacks, reaching a peak when he was sent home from an England camp in August by Eddie Jones following a late night drinking session with Denny Solomana.

“Eddie was disappointed but we talked and I explained my reasons and he understood,” said the player. “Mentally, it was a factor. It was frustration at not being able to do what I wanted to do on the training pitch and that came into it. We just stayed out a bit later than everyone else. That’s it. It’s unacceptable. I was in bed by 4am though. Whatever has happened has happened, it’s gone and I will move forward.”