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EXCLUSIVE: 'I may have to look at my technique' - Vunipola on injury, rehab and the World Cup

By Chris Jones
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Mako Vunipola will join England’s World Cup training camp on Tuesday having discarded his crutches and will tell head coach Eddie Jones he is confident of appearing in at least two of the warm-up internationals before the squad heads to Japan.

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Vunipola revealed to RugbyPass the severity of the injury he suffered helping Saracens beat Leinster to win the Heineken Cup at Newcastle on May 11, with the England prop damaging a tendon so badly that the hamstring came off the bone.

He was given a three-month recovery period and is on course to hit that return date which is scheduled for the second week of August.

Surgery reattached the hamstring and Vunipola’s famous powers of recovery – he has returned early from every serious injury he has suffered during his career – will see him come back “better than before” in the crucial final weeks of England’s World Cup preparations.

Remarkably, Vunipola has been able to follow his carefully prepared rehabilitation programme while undertaking long haul flights home to Tonga for brother Billy’s wedding, a trip that was followed by a family holiday that took in Fiji and Samoa.

To make those journeys, Vunipola had to self-inject for two weeks to ensure deep vein thrombosis did not become a factor and thanks to the gyms at the various hotels he booked into, the world’s best loosehead prop was able to stick to his fitness regime.

The England medical staff, who work closely with the Saracens medical team, will get their first chance on Tuesday to check over Vunipola’s progress and the Saracens prop, who could only watch as brother Billy helped the club register a Gallagher Premiership triumph and make it another double-winning season, will walk into the examination without the need of crutches.

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Vunipola is happy with his progress and is mentally preparing to be in action for at least two of the warm-up Tests that see England take on Wales (August 11, 17) and Ireland (August 24) and Italy (September 6).

He said: “I have spoken to the specialist who said I should be back for two of the warm-up games, but I have to be smart because the hamstring is not like a bone that heals. I have to take it day by day and I am confident of playing two or three games before the World Cup.

“I injured my hamstring while jackalling against Leinster and I may have to look at my technique! I overextended my leg and then pushed off and made it worse. The scan showed that I tore one of the tendons and the hamstring muscle detached from the bone at the top.

“It wasn’t a nice feeling but the euphoria of winning the cup again carried me through. The surgeon attached it back to the bone and it has healed well with everything progressing on track.

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Mako Vunipola
Mako Vunipola on the podium after Saracens’ Champions Cup win over Leinster (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

“I came out of hospital in the week of the play-off semi-finals and then the weekend after the play-off final it was my brother’s wedding in Tonga. It has been a hectic few weeks with my son Jacob also celebrating his first birthday and it has been really enjoyable to have time away relaxing with the family.

“For Billy’s wedding we wore similar traditional outfits and it was great that Sarries players Richard Barrington and Scott Spurling made it. James Haskell and his wife also flew in for the wedding and he made two speeches which was a highlight. He really got caught up in the emotion. Because of all of the flights I was given injections that I had to do myself for a couple of weeks to prevent blot clots.

“Rehab-wise and conditioning I had videos from the England guys letting me know what simple things I could do and I was able to crack on with it. I’m now off crutches and I go into camp with England on Tuesday. Everything will start then.

“I have learned, having had a few injuries in recent seasons, that it is a good opportunity to come back better than before and I was given the three-month plan, but things actually happen quite quickly.

After the wedding festivities, Vunipola and his family headed to Fiji and then made a first visit to Samoa to complete a tour of the major Pacific Islands rugby nations.

Not surprisingly, Vunipola was constantly recognised with plenty of requests for photographs. “We had two amazing weeks in Samoa,” he added. “Rugby is so big in the islands but they are also so respectful. Now, I want to be in the best possible shape for the World Cup and there is no holding off.”

WATCH: Going Pro, the new RugbyPass documentary on the Saracens Women’s team

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

40 Go to comments
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Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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