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Phil Morrow calls Mako Vunipola the “Great Deceiver” and predicts the prop will be an even more powerful force when he completes his recovery from the ankle injury that has ruled him out of England’s Six Nations campaign.
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Morrow is the Saracens Performance Director and joined the club after the 2011 World Cup having been Head of Fitness with Ireland and was part of the Lions strength and conditioning team on the 2017 tour of New Zealand.
Morrow heads up a world-class team of strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists, physios and a nutritionist at Saracens that has helped transform Wallaby lock Will Skelton, who lost two stones and is now playing the best rugby of his career.
Vunipola injured his ankle in the win over France and is desperate to get back into action to help the club’s bid for a Gallagher Premiership and European Champions Cup double before setting his sights on a World Cup campaign with England in Japan. Vunipola was expected to be out for 10 weeks but the Saracens medical and conditioning staff will be working their magic in a bid to shorten that time scale.
Morrow revealed Vunipola is known as the “Great Deceiver” because the loosehead prop’s body language suggests he is constantly tired and in need of a break during matches. That, according to Morrow, is very far from the truth and he said: “Mako is the great deceiver. When you look at Mako’s body language and demeanour it appears that he doesn’t care. But he is phenomenally professional and has had to come back from some serious injuries over recent seasons and his dedication to getting fit is incredible. He is always doing extra fitness work.
“He is an incredible competitor who works unbelievably hard behind the scenes and will come back hungry to work. He injured his calf in October and returned significantly stronger than he has ever been. He made remarkable changes and while he may never ever look like an oil painting, he functions really well at what he does.
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“In terms of this ankle injury, we gave him a week off because he also got injured in the Autumn and did a lot of upper body work during that rehab period. The mental side of recovery is as important as the work because when you are injured it can be challenging mentally and with a longer timeline it is important to take that into consideration. At the moment he is able to do work on the upper body and the other leg. We can use some stimulation to work on the calf with pads to make the muscles contract on the leg that is injured while also constantly icing it.”
Maro Itoje was initially expected to be out for eight weeks with the knee injury he suffered against Ireland but is battling to be fit to play some part against Italy with England facing second row problems. Morrow said: “Maro remained with England because he was going to be back playing with them before us and there is very good communication between the two parties.
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“I don’t know if any player is a quick healer, but injuries recover at different rates. There are players who can genetically hold onto muscle or build muscle quicker than others. Billy Vunipola holds onto his muscle just like Maro Itoje. When you get, for example, a knee injury and you have it put it into a brace your muscle wastes away. Your quad wastes because it is not being used and so the first stage of the rehab is to get the muscle back because you can do that then you can accelerate the process.
“That can change the rehab in terms of recovery time scale and that is why an 8-10 week injury could see a player back closer to 8 weeks. A player who, for whatever reason, is slower at getting the muscle back would push it back to 10 weeks. Will Skelton broke his arm and was playing in 11 weeks while Calum Clark didn’t come back for 16 or 17 weeks with his break. Sometimes it is the type of break and recovery is led by the consultant.”
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In other news: Cancer-stricken Tongan loose forward Nasi Manu chases World Cup dream
The transformation of Skelton has been remarkable and Morrow is full of praise for the 6ft 8ins Wallaby who many in Australia believe should be recalled to bolster the team’s World Cup campaign in Japan. Morrow predicts Skelton can make even more improvements and added: “In the conversations we had with him when he returned to the club, he won’t mind us saying this, we said we were a little disappointed with the shape he was in. There are very few international second rows who are playing with one hand tied behind their back and Will was doing that because he was 10kgs overweight.
“Once you get a bit of success on the scales it gives you a boost along with teammates telling you that you are looking great. Not only did Will hit the target that was set, he surpassed it and we saw a significant improvement in his GPS data; explosive effort, high speed running and max speed running and all that got significantly better and it all supports the narrative.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Hope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
1 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
9 Go to comments