England receive major Vunipola boost ahead of Wales game
Mako Vunipola has been included in the England squad for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations match against Wales at Twickenham.
The loosehead was not expected to feature after returning to Tonga for family reasons last week.
Just a few days ago, England head coach Eddie Jones stated that Vunipola would "probably not" be available after a family member was taken seriously ill.
However, Jones has this morning included the 29-year-old in his 34-man squad for the round four game.
Vunipola has only featured once in this year's Six Nations so far, starting in the 13-6 defeat of Scotland at BT Murrayfield.
Anthony Watson also returns having overcome a calf problem.
While there is still no room in Jones' squad for Alex Dombrandt, Sam Simmonds or Ollie Hassell-Collins, the England boss has called up Exeter Chiefs' Jack Maunder as a third No 9.
Billy Vunipola, Joe Cokanasiga and Jack Nowell remain among the players unavailable for Jones this week.
England squad update Wales week:
Forwards
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
Mark Wilson (Sale Sharks)
Backs
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Ollie Devoto (Exeter Chiefs)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers)
Jack Maunder (Exeter Chiefs)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Thorley (Gloucester Rugby)
Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Jacob Umaga (Wasps)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Watch: Brumbies vice-captain Locky McCaffrey and coach Dan McKellar interview
Latest Comments
I agree.
I’d like to know what constitutes a 208 week ban though?
Must the eyeball be dislodged? Hanging by a vein?
Go to commentsAlso a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.
I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.
I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.
Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.
“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”
Go to comments