Manu Tuilagi was tipped to reach even greater heights by England captain Mike Tindall after the Samoa-born centre marked his second Test appearance with a second try here on Saturday.

Tuilagi’s fifth minute effort saw England open the scoring as they beat Ireland 20-9 at Landsdowne Road in what was a final warm-up match for both sides ahead of next month’s World Cup in New Zealand.

  Ireland’s fourth defeat in as many warm-up matches was made worse by the sight of flanker David Wallace, who fell awkwardly following a tackle by Tuilagi, suffering a knee injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.

  Tindall, paired alongside Tuilagi in the 13th midfield combination of England manager Martin Johnson’s 35 Tests in charge, said he’d been delighted by his fellow centre’s display.

  “It’s difficult because I’d trained with Manu but never played with him, and you never know how that’s going to develop,” said Tindall, whose grubber kick set up England’s second try Saturday for replacement back Delon Armitage.

  “You saw the raw power that Manu’s got and the raw talent, and every time he takes the field in that shirt I think he’s going to grow and get better and better,” added the veteran back, one of the few survivors from the England side captained by Johnson that won the 2003 World Cup.

  This victory left England with a warm-up record of played three, won two and lost one after a home success against Wales was followed by a 19-8 defeat last time out in Cardiff.

  It also gave England just their second win in nine matches against Ireland and went some way to making amends for a 24-8 loss on their last trip to Dublin in March which cost the Six Nations champions a Grand Slam.

  Tindall, leading the team in the absence of injured flanker Lewis Moody, added: “It’s massive, especially a win here.

  “Whatever they hit us with we kept hitting them back and that’s credit to the boys.

  “We sat down last night and talked of the stuff that happened last time (against Ireland) and remembered how we felt after the last game.”

  Johnson was pleased by the way England handled adversity, be it late injury-enforced changes to his starting side, the Dublin weather that saw the match end in a downpour and being 10-2 behind on penalties conceded at half-time.

  “There was lots of ’not perfect’ about it, having to change the team and then (during the match) seeing Hendre Fourie strain his hamstring and Mark Cueto suffer a back spasm,” Johnson said.

  “We needed to perform and step up, which we did and the two tries were obviously crucial.”

  As for his latest centre pairing, Johnson added: “We’ve got four guys who can play centre...Mike and Manu went well.”

  Ireland’s loss, following a warm-up defeat by Scotland and two reverses against France, was compounded by Wallace’s knee injury.

  But Paul O’Connell, leading the team while Ireland hero Brian O’Driscoll missed the match with a shoulder problem, insisted: “We know how good we can be and with the experience we have in the dressing room, and in the backroom staff, we think we can produce that at the World Cup.

  “England lived off our mistakes and errors.”  Ireland coach Declan Kidney added: “The results are bitterly disappointing and there are no excuses.

  “I’ve always said losers make excuses and winners make promises and these guys have promised they will get