'For people that probably don't know him, he's a lot like a small Michael Hooper'
Billy Vunipola says the absence of Dylan Hartley through injury will be a “massive” loss to England but has backed Saracens colleague Owen Farrell to thrive as the team’s sole captain.
Farrell was promoted to co-captain alongside Hartley during the November internationals, having filled in for the Northampton Saints man on the June tour to South Africa.
It was confirmed by coach Eddie Jones on Thursday that Hartley will miss the start of the Six Nations with a knee injury, ruling him out of a Dublin showdown with defending champions Ireland, who completed the Grand Slam at Twickenham last year.
But some believe it is Farrell who will end up leading England into this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and Vunipola says the 27-year-old has the character to fill the leadership void left by Hartley against Ireland.
“It’ll be massive,” Vunipola told Omnisport, speaking on behalf of Land Rover. “Dyl’s been there from the start with Eddie and they run a tight ship but a fun ship.
“He’s a great leader and we’ll definitely miss him in and around camp. He’s a great guy and a great captain as well, so we’ll definitely miss him.
“But I think Faz [Farrell]… everyone knows the standards he sets and hopefully he can set them for us and lead by example.”
BREAKING | Your England squad for the 2019 #GuinnessSixNations ?
More here ? https://t.co/lj69XwYohv#CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/ffuU5rI289
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) January 17, 2019
Vunipola added that both men command the same amount of respect in the squad, commenting: “They’re kind of the same body with two different heads. Everyone listens and everyone respects [what they say].”
The Saracens number eight said it was “lovely” to see his name in Jones’ squad after injuries have limited his involvement in the past two championships to just two appearances in 2017.
He is joined in the squad by clubmate and fellow back-row forward Ben Earl, who – along with Ollie Thorley, Dan Robson and Jack Singleton – is one of four uncapped players to make the cut.
“For people that probably don’t know Ben Earl, he’s a lot like a small Michael Hooper,” Vunipola explained, despite the fact that Earl is two inches and a kilo heavier than the Australian.
“He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s compact, but he’s fast. He’s good over the ball and I’m just happy to have another Saracens team-mate in the team.
“It’s testament to the system we have here.
“I know he’ll do well in training, but we’re all pushing for the same spot, so we just have to push each other as much as possible.”
Billy Vunipola is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover shares and understands the values of rugby. @LandRoverRugby
Comments on RugbyPass
Honestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
133 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
8 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
8 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
133 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
133 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
133 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
8 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
8 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
133 Go to comments