Mako Vunipola 'not a dirty player' insists Saracens boss after red card
Saracens head coach Joe Shaw defended Mako Vunipola’s disciplinary record after a reckless clear-out earned him the first red card of his career in their 34-14 win over Newcastle.
Sarries ran in five tries to make it four Gallagher Premiership wins on the bounce, with the England prop’s dismissal the only blot on their copybook.
Vunipola, 31, could face a ban after a clear-out on Tom Penny.
“The first thing about Mako is that he is not a dirty player,” said Shaw.
“That’s his first red card which, considering the amount of games he’s played, says something. It was reckless but we’ll see what happens in the coming days.”
Shaw’s side blew Falcons away in the first half, scoring 26 points without reply.
The bonus point was in the bag after 32 minutes when Max Malins crossed, adding to earlier tries from Alex Lewington, Kapeli Pifeleti and Alex Lozowski.
“We had the conditions with us in that first half and that gave us a strong position,” said Shaw.
“I’m pleased with how we were able to manage the game today and how we went about our business on both sides of the ball.
“It’s never easy to come here and to go 14 points up inside the first 10 minutes certainly made things a bit easier for us against a well-coached side and players with a lot of grit.
“It’s easy to look at our attack today, but I thought our defence especially in that first 40 minutes was terrific. It was the most impressive part of the game.”
Malins underlined the visitors’ dominance when he scored his second try of the game within moments of Vunipola’s dismissal.
Flanker Theo McFarland was again impressive in the loose after his starring role in last weekend’s demolition of champions Leicester.
Falcons capitalised on the man advantage to score tries from England international Jamie Blamire and Mateo Carreras, but Dave Walder’s men were unable to build on their first Premiership win of the season last time out against Bristol.
“Saracens are a really well-drilled team with a lot of superstars, but I’m disappointed at how easy we’ve made it for them today,” Walder said.
“When you give them a 14-point head start after only six or seven minutes then you know it will be a long afternoon.
“We can’t look anywhere else other than to ourselves for what went wrong. We were too sluggish and gave them too much time on their feet. It’s these things that we will look at through the week.
“They showed why they are the top team in the land because they are ruthless and just so clinical. It’s a different style of rugby to what I’ve seen over the years. They’ve been able to move the ball a bit more and freshen things up.
“It shows the quality of the side when you are able to have someone like Alex Goode on the bench with all of his Premiership appearances and European Cups. He’s being kept out of the team by a few England internationals.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful 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 comments