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Vunipola the latest to defend Owen Farrell
By Peter Thompson
Billy Vunipola has staunchly defended Owen Farrell's leadership skills after England's Six Nations capitulation against Scotland.
Farrell had a second half to forget as England blew a 31-point lead to draw 38-38 in an astonishing final match of the tournament at Twickenham on Saturday.
Eddie Jones replaced Farrell, sole captain in the absence of Dylan Hartley, and said the fly-half had "lost a bit of his edge" after Scotland roared back to retain the Calcutta Cup.
Vunipola says his Saracens and England team-mate does not deserve the criticism that has come his way.
The number eight told Omnisport: "The media is up and down and sometimes you can't believe the hype. I support Faz and what he's brought to the group, the way he's led us.
"It's just unfortunate that we didn't get the results that we wanted but it's coming, I believe that it will, I have faith that it will, we just have to show everyone else."
He added: "It was only a few weeks ago that he was one of the best [fly-halves in the world] and now obviously we have one bad half and now everyone's questioning, is he still our captain?
"That's the pressure that comes with playing for England and that's just something that we have to learn from, same for him.
"He has my support and I'm just in the team to try and help in any way that I can and he's doing the same but leading us."
- Vunipola was speaking at a coaching session he was leading with fellow Saracens and Harlequins players on behalf of Land Rover at Beaconsfield RFC.
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Latest Comments
Luke Cowan-Dickie i'd assume
Go to commentswe need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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