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'Mako's hamstring injury requires surgery and will take a minimum of three months to recover'
Mako Vunipola must undergo hamstring surgery as he races against time to prove his fitness for England’s pursuit of the World Cup.
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Saracens have revealed that Vunipola will need “a minimum of three months” of rehabilitation once the operation is completed, casting doubt over his involvement in this autumn’s global showpiece.
England head coach Eddie Jones will give his most effective player and the game’s standout loosehead prop every chance to secure a place in his squad for Japan 2019, but any setbacks in recovery could be damaging.
Vunipola lasted half an hour of Saturday’s Champions Cup final victory over Leinster and while Saracens were initially more upbeat over the severity of the torn hamstring, a visit to a specialist revealed the true extent of the damage.
“Mako’s hamstring injury requires surgery and will take a minimum of three months to recover,” a joint statement issued by England and Saracens read.
GET WELL SOON, MAKO 👊@Saracens and England prop @Mako_Vunipola ruled out for three months: https://t.co/Bq2PjYzfTM pic.twitter.com/Vr5m8VYQwC
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) May 17, 2019
England fly to Japan on September 8 and play their opening match against Tonga two weeks later. Even if Vunipola’s recovery follows the best case scenario he will be forced to miss two of the four warm-up matches, home and away against Wales, leaving the August 24 and September 6 appointments against Ireland and Italy as possible opportunities to gain match fitness.
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Jones is due to name his World Cup squad in late August but can make changes until the official deadline of September 8 – the day they depart for their pre-tournament training camp in Miyazaki.
England’s head coach can take some comfort in knowing that the tougher pool games – against Argentina and France – arrive at the end of the group campaign, offering Vunipola time to bed in. The 28-year-old Lion missed a large chunk of the Six Nations earlier this year with an ankle problem and then suffered another injury to the same joint that resulted in an aborted comeback.
The showdown with Leinster in Newcastle was only his second match since the Championship rout of France in mid-February and will now sit out the climax to Saracens’ quest for the double through the successful defence of their Gallagher Premiership crown.
Vunipola is among England’s most influential figures due to his exceptional work-rate, power in the tackle, carrying threat, leadership and handling skills. Alongside Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and his younger brother Billy Vunipola, he is a world-class player that Jones dare not lose.
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Ellis Genge, Ben Moon and Alec Hepburn have deputised for the New Zealand-born front row of Tongan heritage, but all three are Test rookies and Jones might now consider an attempt to persuade veteran Joe Marler to rethink international retirement.
– Press Association
WATCH: Jim Hamilton interview Billy Vunipola for RugbyPass after last Saturday Champions Cup final win by Saracens
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments