Et si Mako Vunipola rejoignait son frère Billy à Montpellier ?
Mako Vunipola aurait entamé des discussions sur la possibilité de rejoindre son jeune frère Billy à Montpellier lorsque son contrat avec les Saracens, champions de Gallagher Premiership, arrivera à terme à la fin de la saison.
Le pilier de 33 ans, qui a manqué la Coupe du Monde de Rugby 2023 en début de saison en raison d’une blessure au dos, a pris sa retraite internationale en janvier après avoir été sélectionné 79 fois en équipe d’Angleterre et avoir joué neuf fois avec les British and Irish Lions.
Un départ cet été ?
Mark McCall, l’entraîneur des Saracens, a confié la semaine dernière que le natif de Nouvelle-Zélande pourrait en effet rejoindre son frère dès cet été, ce qui marquerait la fin d’une époque puisque les frères Vunipola prendraient le chemin de la France, que prévoit d’emprunter aussi l’ancien capitaine de l’Angleterre, Owen Farrell.
« Je ne veux pas en parler avant qu’ils aient complètement finalisé leurs plans. Ce ne serait pas juste compte tenu de ce qu’ils ont fait pour le club, mais ils arrivent à la fin de leur temps avec nous », a déclaré McCall.
Formé à la prestigieuse Millfield School, Mako Vunipola a disputé plus de 200 matchs avec les Saracens. Il a rejoint l’académie senior en 2011 après avoir fait ses débuts professionnels avec Bristol.
Le pilier gauche aurait commencé à discuter avec Montpelier d’un éventuel déménagement, mais n’aurait toujours pas trouvé d’accord. Il envisage en effet d’installer sa jeune famille sur la côte française.
Le Top 14 plutôt que le Super Rugby Pacific
Vunipola a suscité l’intérêt de franchises du Super Rugby Pacific et de clubs japonais par le passé, mais il semble probable qu’il se dirige vers la France pour ce qui sera probablement les deux dernières années de sa carrière.
Billy Vunipola a signé la semaine dernière un contrat de deux ans avec Montpellier qui a failli être annulé par une offre tardive de l’hémisphère sud.
Une franchise australienne de Super Rugby avait formulé une offre tardive pour arracher le numéro 8 de 31 ans, né à Sydney, au nez et à la barbe de Montpellier, mais son accord pour évoluer dans le Top 14 était déjà conclu.
Comments on RugbyPass
So sad, god rest him. Too young to be gone. RIP
2 Go to commentsRIP big man 🙏
2 Go to commentsThe GB coach. “Just because we don’t get together as much as other teams we don’t use that as an excuse for performances when we don’t hit the mark”. Why mention it at all then?
1 Go to commentsNo mention of the yellow card for Harlequins which really cost them.
3 Go to commentsThought you’d left us Nick. Good to have you back writing for us. So hunter ikitau works? I reckon wright kellaway as two of the back 3. Tim Ryan and Toole looking good for strike winger but I still want the power of korobeiti and figure our forwards still need him to help them out. Million dollar question is who plays 10? I’m thinking Noah for his kicking and combo with wright. Reckon the pair adds up to an attack and kellaway will help. Can you comment on Zac Lucas in Japan? How is he going?
1 Go to commentsMack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
3 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
5 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
3 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
8 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
3 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
3 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
5 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
5 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
5 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
16 Go to comments