Northern | US
50 - 19
FT
32 - 35
FT
31 - 19
FT
31 - 33
FT
19 - 12
FT
10 - 17
FT
15 - 19
FT
36 - 35
FT
26 - 31
FT
0 - 54
FT
Tomorrow
00:10
Friday
00:10
Friday
06:00
Friday
08:05
Friday
19:05
Friday
22:05
Friday
22:15
Saturday
00:10
Saturday
08:00
Saturday
10:00
Saturday
19:05
Saturday
22:05
Six Nations

England prop Mako Vunipola announces international retirement


(Photo by PA)
Comments
5 Comments

England prop Mako Vunipola has announced his retirement from international rugby.

ADVERTISEMENT

Vunipola amassed 79 caps in a career that began in 2012 and also made nine Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions.

The 32-year-old Saracens forward missed last year’s World Cup because of back surgery but was expected to be involved in the upcoming Six Nations.

Video Spacer

Red Roses Head Coach: John Mitchell excited for RWC 2025

Video Spacer

Red Roses Head Coach: John Mitchell excited for RWC 2025

“It’s been an honour to have represented my country but all good things must come to an end,” he said on Instagram.

“The time has come to step away now. There have been lots of highs and lows. Would love to thank everyone who have helped me along the way.

“To my wife @alex_vunipola thank you for taking care of our family and all your support. Words don’t do it justice.

“To my parents I’m eternally grateful for all you have sacrificed for me to be here. Malo aupito and Ofa atu. God is good.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

Teenage sensation Posolo Tuilagi ineligible for France

Any hopes of 150kg teenage sensation Posolo Tuilagi representing France's senior team in the near future have been put on ice after French outlet L'Independent  confirmed that the lock does not have a French passport.

Read Now
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

1

All Blacks player ratings vs Sharks | Rugby's Greatest Rivalry 2026

50
2

'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

128
3

Matfield predicts Bok 10 call for All Blacks, but differs from Erasmus

3
4

Todd Blackadder questions why All Blacks would pick Mo'unga to replace Proctor

15
5

Joseph Suaalii move a 'first world problem' for Wallabies

4
6

All Blacks remove Cam Roigard from Sharks game as 'precautionary measure'

7

'Clearly the number one': Springboks coach Erasmus shoots down Hanekom talk

7
8

Robbie Henshaw could be next major star to exit Leinster

4

Comments

5 Comments
Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

LONG READ

Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

A stop-start, set-piece-based game like the Stormers tour opener will not suit the All Blacks if the pattern extends into the Test series.

91
LONG READ

'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

A clash of styles is at the heart of The Greatest Rivalry and whoever prevails will set the tone for the short-term future of rugby

128
LONG READ

As All Blacks fans ramp up for Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, it would be foolhardy to overlook the NPC

While all eyes will inevitably be on South Africa for Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, the NPC will be playing out and it has never been more vital

12

Comments on RugbyPass

B
Bazzallina 8 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

Imo it’s all about the same and I would include Prem in that to give or take ..what URC has is more different styles no doubt

89 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 10 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

I will not argue with the what the Sharks Stormers had to play with but don’t get on the “thankful the ABs are not facing the URC teams” buzz Wayneo that’s just theoretical stuff it didn’t happen .

In saying that it’s obvious SA depth is fire and there is more on the way he just being provocative probably in response to the constant “ the depth is insane” and that NZ rugby has no depth and Super sucks BS we hear all the time



...

89 Go to comments
K
KwAussie 11 minutes ago
Wallabies dealt injury blow with Suaalii ruled out of second Japan Test

Yeah although I’d like to see the Flook/Henry combination as they have demonstrated that they work very well together

3 Go to comments
K
KwAussie 11 minutes ago
Wallabies dealt injury blow with Suaalii ruled out of second Japan Test

Not a loss at all. Suaalii has been very average and still demonstrates too many mistakes caused by his inexperience and lack of rugby IQ. Doesn’t help that he was put into the hardest position on the filed and almost seems like he was set up to fail.

Lots of talk from so called experts about putting him into the back three, but every position in the back three has at least 2 players who are much better than him. Maybe he needs to rest up, get fit again and try and play a full season of Super rugby before he’s brought back into the Wallabies.



...

3 Go to comments
f
frandinand 13 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

French Rugby in the late 80s was fairly brutal

When I went there from the north of Scotland I was absolutely flabbergasted.



...

89 Go to comments
N
NoLongerARuck 13 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

To be completely honest Nick the scrum is a mess and thats entirely world rugbys fault. They need to help the refs and players out. For starters World rugby needs to mandate a minimum scrum height which will resolve overextending issues and the whole thing flopping like a bad souffle. Secondly they need to mandate bind freindly jerseys with specific binding points on them and toughened materials which allow props to bind and grip easily. perhaps they should also mandate that all props wear specific binding gloves. If they can get rid of overextension and loss of bind then that takes out a huge host of resets. Its crazy to think but when you look back at 95 the scrums set extremely fast with fewer collapses. The whole process was simplified. We can never go back to that but we can stop buggering around and make it easier for props to keep the scrum up and keep their binds. The maul law changes are interesting but why 1 year out from the world cup? The new laws make it impossible not to concede a pen against a team that swivels and shifts the maul which most top teams do to change the point of attack. The best way to defend now I suppose is to have players in the maul and players out of it. As one disengages from the side another hits from the back thereby keeping the same amount of players in without swimming up the side. The disengaged player then goes back to the back ready to engage again. ready to engage again. This is hardly an ideal defence and sucks more numbers into the maul. Feel like the refs have been short changed to be honest.

89 Go to comments
N
NB 14 minutes ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

Yes the issues we don’t know about may arise when the bench F/R enters the fray.

128 Go to comments
N
NB 15 minutes ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

We shall see.

The ABs do not need to dominate the scrum - just be steady on the SA feed, counter the pen-winning maneuvers and use the ball on their own put-in.



...

128 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 17 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

I was just going to ask you about the punching part

89 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 18 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

Why? Because the assumption is he is doing it on purpose I guess but sonetimes obviously they are not and that is when there shouldn’t be a penalty but there is almost every time , for what getting pushed back and falling over ?haha talk about kicking a man when he is down ..ahh btw you just got smoked embarrassed killed and ummm going to penalize you for it so when u can pull your neck out of your rib cage get back 10 please number 3

89 Go to comments
N
NB 20 minutes ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

So now the AB front row is weaker than Ireland?

In those clips in the piece when do you see Lomax folding like a deckchair?



...

128 Go to comments
N
NB 22 minutes ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'



Why can’t scrum dominance result in great front foot ball for the backline as it was intended

This is how it always was used historically CM. Pen count was always around 5% in the old days.



...

128 Go to comments
P
PickOllieMathisOrKeepLosing,Rob. 22 minutes ago
All Blacks attack finds dangerous rhythm late in Sharks rout

Tavatavanawai was badass. Start him against the Bulls, have him on the bench for the tests.

50 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 25 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

SA commentators? If so all I can think is they are pandering to the fans ..the ABs were clearly better today at scrum it was obvious and I’m guessing Stats show that as well and they were better than Stormers ..when the ball got in and a scrum could actually happen !

89 Go to comments
f
frandinand 25 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

In my day there would be no penalty one of us would punch the other

I’m certainly not advocating a return to that culture but you raise a very interesting question.



...

89 Go to comments
K
KwAussie 26 minutes ago
Seven clips the Wallabies will be analysing after another tight win over Japan

Probably because it takes a while to bed in a new system, especially with players who struggle with good decisions under pressure or are too inexperienced to be playing at this level. McLeod is a very good coach but he can only work with the cattle he has.

3 Go to comments
N
NB 26 minutes ago
'The phoney war on the Greatest Rivalry tour is already gale-force in its intensity.'

The ABs don’t need the scrum depowered, they would just like the ball to come out of it occasionally!

128 Go to comments
N
NB 27 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

The article simple points out the facts W.

A referee who has refereed in one style all season suddenly starts reffing another way. Why?



...

89 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 31 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

More and then some 4 tests 4 weeks has to be

89 Go to comments
O
Olly 32 minutes ago
Why Rassie will be happier than Rennie with early omens of Greatest Rivalry tour

Depth. The top few teams are good. I wouldn’t go as far as saying they are better. The competition just drops off significantly so you don't get that week in week out demand. In SRP the performance margin between a good win and an upset is small. And good teams in SRP drop off mid season when it becomes clear they can't keep it up for the season as their is no rest and nowhere to hide. IMO URC has too many teams that are clearly a tier or two below.

89 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Search Timezones
Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close