Billy Vunipola: 'I'm definitely staying' but No.8's England future is unclear
Billy Vunipola is staying at Saracens and the No.8 is preparing for playing in the Championship, where he hopes a season in the English second tier will give his body an opportunity to heal.
The 130kg England backrow is not clear, however, about his international prospects when playing in the Championship, having not spoken with anyone within the RFU on the matter.
Speaking to RugbyPass on ‘The Lockdown’ with Jim Hamilton, Vunipola says he can only see positives for Saracens, who were automatically relegated earlier this season for breaches of the salary cap.
“There way I see, it’s part of the journey of the club.
“Some boys have had to try and further their careers, as they are at the start of their careers. I’m kind of in the middle of it.
“Boys are in different situations, and I can understand that. They’ve got families and things to look after.
“From my point of view, I’m just trying to sit still and play it out, see where we end up next year.
“I can’t see a negative in it. I’ve haven’t spoken directly to the powers at the top, when it comes to England or at Sarries, as to what will happen in terms of international recognition but if there’s one positive to take out of it, is I hope that my body will take less of a battering.
“With no disrespect to the Championship, it will give my body a chance to heal. I don’t think they play as many games in the Championship. They don’t have Champions Cup or those big games. You (Jim Hamilton) know what it’s like, they just keep coming.
“I’m excited for next year. I reckon I’ll play as much as I can, try to help the team as much as possible and hopefully we’ll come straight back up.
Asked if he had had his head turned along the way by the lure of Japan, France or even Super Rugby, Vunipola was clear: “No, not really.”
“All the reports coming out, the club have looked after me, and not just me, my family. It’s time for me to dig my heels in and scrap with the boys and hopefully come up next year.
“There lots of examples of clubs going down, like Northampton going down and coming up and doing well, same thing goes for Quins, so, it’s kind of a good point in our journey as a club to reset some of our goals and accelerate.”
“Yes, I’m definitely staying.”
“It was always us against everyone else. That siege mentality, we kind of got stuck into that.
“If I was at another club I would have been annoyed. But I think a lot of things that did come out were exaggerated. Some points were made to seem worse than they were.
“You kind of let people get their feelings out there. I’m glad that none of boys reacted in ways that we would regret. The best way for us to react was try to win as many games as we could.
“When you think about where we are going to be now, players like my little cousin (Manu Vunipola), who’s playing at 10, and players around him, are going to get an opportunity to play against really, really experienced players in the Championship.
“Obviously, as the season goes on you feel it a bit more worn down and last year I got to point with my shoulder where I was hanging on towards the end”
– @Jono__Ross tells @chrisjonespress what it takes on the @premrugby front line with @SaleSharksRugbyhttps://t.co/6YquDrrmfu— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 24, 2020
“We’ll probably get taught a few lessons and it will be good for their progression. In two or three years time these guys will be at the top of their game and the English game. That’s something people haven’t really thought about but that’s something we’ve talked about.
“We’re going to get to a situation where we are going to struggle to keep a hold of good players. As you know, the environment always breeds players that want to reach the top.
“There are no negatives to take out from it. People saying what they want to say, that’s just the way the world is.
“You look at what a person like Maro has done during his career, and you can’t take anything away from him. He’s gone from playing how many games unbeaten to playing for the Lions and proving how good he is.
?BREAKING ? Maro Itoje voted the world's best lock in 2020 by majority decision. Ohhh Maroo Itooooje, ohhhh Maroo Itooooje. ????? #EnglandRugby #Saracens pic.twitter.com/laYxpHy8rS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 24, 2020
“We’ve had a system where we’ve allowed players to be themselves. The end result is we’ve had a few world-class players within the one squad.
Vunipola broke his arm earlier this season, an injury that has plagued him since 2017.
‘My problem was, I probably wasn’t looking after it really well when I first broke my arm. Not listening to medical advice in wearing protective gear around it, so that was on me. But now, with the lockdown and not knowing when the season will start again, has given me time to let it heal and let it get better on its own, rather than me always rushing back for a big game.
“I got into a bad cycle of always getting back quickly. It started in 2017 and 2018. I won’t have to rush back for a big game like Leinster, who we would have had to play in two weeks time.”
Vunipola had surgery on the arm, but says he would have tried to get back for that Leinster game in Europe, had the season still have been going.
“This arm I’ve broken three times but this was a different part of the bone. With the titanium plate in there, it’s so rigid, it’s different to how your bones are, so I just got it caught. Hopefully, I can get back to 100 per cent.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments