There's a reason Mako Vunipola is flogged - his remarkable carrying statistics
For all the talk of ‘new breed’ props in the professional era – with ten percent body fat and the ability to shift like a centre – by-in-large props tend to be firmly rooted to the bottom of carrying stats.
Yet there are outliers – and Mako Vunipola is one.
This week much has been made of the apparent overuse of the older Vunipola, who has played in every game for Saracens since England’s Six Nations campaign.
His selection against Bath on the weekend is apparently a technical breach of the Professional Game Agreement (PGA), which was signed in 2016 and states “Those [players] who play throughout the Six Nations, and pass a threshold of minutes played, will have one weekend off in the four weeks following the competition,” although the RFU don’t appear to have much of a problem with it.
Vunipola came off the bench in Saracens 24-11 win over Harlequins on March 24th, a week after England’s final Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham.
He also started in the club’s Champions Cup 30-19 defeat to Leinster on April 1st, followed by the 63-13 win at Northampton last weekend.
In contrast to Vunipola, Maro Itoje has been left out of the Saracens squad this weekend, having also met the rest requirements.
However, there’s good reason for the repeated selection of the loosehead – his phenomenal carrying work rate.
While of course he’ll always be in the shadow of No.8 brother Billy in terms of carrying, the prop has quietly gone about the business of becoming one of the Premierships most effective and heavily used frontrow carriers.
According to Opta, the older Vunipola’s 20 carries against Leinster were the most by a prop in the Champions Cup since Opta began recording this data in the 2009/10 season.
2⃣0⃣ – Mako Vunipola's 20 carries against Leinster were the most by a prop in the @ChampionsCup since Opta began recording this data (2009/10-). Tireless. pic.twitter.com/WbpbnE053E
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) April 3, 2018
The 5’10, 130kg New Zealand born Vunipola has made 273 carries so far this season, for a combined 471 metres for an average carry of 1.7 metres.
The modest 1.7 metres per carry should be taken in the context of how Vunipola is used by Saracens and England. Because of his excellent handling skills – by prop standards at least – he often pops up as a stationary shovel passer at first receiver in the midfield.
By comparison, Leicester’s Ellis Genge – an incredibly powerful and aggressive carrier – has made 99 carries in 15 appearances for 305 metres gained. While his carries are more effective at just over 3 metres a carry, the volume is significantly less than Vunipola.
The sheer number of carries Vunipola gets through in fact compares favourably to the Premierships top backrowers, who tend to dominate the stats for carrying volume.
And carrying for in an England shirt has been equally impressive. Against Italy in the opening game of the Six Nations he passed the 200 metres carried milestone.
36' ITA 7 – 17 ENG#IBMTryTracker Milestone | @Mako_Vunipola has now made 200 carries in an England shirt.#ITAvENG live blog ➡ https://t.co/wrmbSbIk75 pic.twitter.com/BmHKkkq2FG
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 4, 2018
His abilities have not gone unnoticed by Eddie Jones, who has named checked in press conferences regarding his remarkable workrate.
“You just look at loosehead props now, what they’re required to do. It is amazing. You’ve got someone like Mako Vunipola, he’s 125 kilogrammes, that’s big enough to be a Sumo wrestle,” Jones told reporters in January.
“He makes 20 tackles a game, carries the ball 10 times, cleans out 20 times, scrums 15 times, lifts in the line-out 18 times. What those guys do now, compared to what a prop did 10 years ago, has increased at least two-fold.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Always reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
1 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
4 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
4 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to comments