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What Mako Vunipola told brother Billy about the injury that forced him off at Twickenham
By Nick Heath
Billy Vunipola’s excellent afternoon helping England to an eight-try demolition job of Ireland ended on a bittersweet moment, the sight of older brother Mako lasting just 17 minutes as a replacement before coming off in his comeback game following a serious hamstring operation last May.
The loosehead had created great hype when declared fit to play in midweek, but his return was cut short when he limped to the sidelines two minutes from the finish, sparking concerns about his fitness for next month’s World Cup in Japan.
After Eddie Jones claimed the switch was a precautionary move and that the limp will be investigated fully, Billy told RugbyPass: “I talked to him but he hasn’t given me too much. All I have got is, ‘Yeah, I feel alright. I’m okay’. The medics will do what they need to do and hopefully we’ll all get an update.
“I’m in the same boat as everyone else. If I wasn’t his brother he’d probably tell me more but because I am his little brother, he is trying to be the tough guy. We’re just here to support him and hopefully, fingers crossed he is okay.”
Despite watching two of his Saracens team-mates Maro Itoje and George Kruis get among the try-scorers in the Twickenham rout, Vunipola feels there is more to work on with England having one more warm-up game to play before they fly to Japan, the September 6 fixture against Italy in Newcastle.
He said: “We’re pretty happy with it. Satisfied is probably the wrong term, we always want to improve. There are parts of our game that probably let us down. That second try where we let in Bundee (Aki) was probably on me. but these things are always there to work on.”
With England’s forwards showing superb handling and mobility, Vunipola agreed that it is an area that has improved under Jones. “For us, it’s always trying to add things to our game and having props that can play with the ball in hand.
“It was only last year that Tadhg (Furlong) was leading in terms of that facet of the game. We are learning off other people as much as each other. It was awesome to see Kyle (Sinckler) put someone through a hole - not sure about the celebrations, but it was great to watch.”
WATCH: Billy Vunipola talks to RugbyPass about the injury his brother Mako suffered on Saturday
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Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
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