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McCall expects Vunipola to face Italy
By Peter Thompson
Mark McCall expects Mako Vunipola to feature for England against Italy next Saturday after the prop made his comeback in Saracens' Premiership defeat at Gloucester on Friday.
Vunipola came through 70 minutes of the Premiership and European champions' 31-23 loss at Kingsholm following a two-month absence due to a knee injury.
The loosehead produced a typically powerful display and Sarries director of rugby McCall thinks he is ready to make an international return when England take on Italy in the Six Nations at Twickenham next Sunday.
McCall said of Vunipola's return: "We had an open mind as to how he was going to go.
"He felt pretty good. I thought he did well, given he's been out for eight or nine weeks. Overall, I thought he was pretty decent.
"I am assuming he is going to play against Italy in some form, and I think the game-time he got will have been important for him."
McCall also provided an update on the fitness of Vunipola's younger brother, Billy, who has not played since November after undergoing knee surgery.
"Billy is going very well. He is definitely ahead of schedule, and it will depend how the next week or so goes regarding when he comes back," said McCall.
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Latest Comments
Thanks Ed.
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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