Once he wanted to be an All Black, now he wants to destroy them - Vunipola talks England vs NZ
Mako Vunipola used to dream about rampaging around in an All Black jersey causing the kind of mayhem that made Jonah Lomu his hero.
Now, the Saracens prop is aiming to inflict a significant defeat on the All Blacks in November at Twickenham and revive England’s faltering bid for World Cup glory in Japan next year.
It was billed as the clash of the World’s top two teams but the November 10 meeting at Twickenham will now see New Zealand, still the outstanding team in the sport, taking on an England side that has dropped down to No4 after five successive defeats that left head coach Eddie Jones under severe pressure.
Vunipola, who has won 51 caps and played in six Lions tests, missed England’s third test win over South Africa in June which ended that run of defeats to be present for the birth of his son Jacob. It means that the player many believe is the best loose head prop in World rugby has a personal test record that shows he has lost his last five England matches.
Although England finally ended their barren run, they still lost the series 2-1 to the Springboks who will be the first of November’s four opponents at Twickenham on November 3 followed by New Zealand, Japan and Australia. With the World Cup just over a year away, Vunipola and his England team mates have to prove that Jones’s squad has not peaked too early and can still mount a viable bid for the Webb Ellis Cup in Japan.
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Vunipola has already enjoyed two wins and draw against the All Blacks wearing the white of England the red of the British and Irish Lions. The Lions drawn series in New Zealand last summer allowed him to add another win over the All Blacks to the one he registered at Twickenham in 2012.
Having been born in Wellington, New Zealand and with a number of his extended family still it the city, any match with the All Blacks is special for Vunipola, who was inspired by Lomu’s extraordinary talents. He said: “When I was growing up I used to watch the All Blacks and be in love with them, mostly because of Jonah Lomu.”
“I always wanted to be him because he was my hero and I was born in New Zealand but that changed when I was growing up in the UK playing rugby here. It’s still weird to think back to those days when I used to cheer for the All Blacks.
“When I got to play against the All Blacks in New Zealand it showed that when you perform to the best of your ability you have a chance and while the All Blacks can seem invincible – at times they do play some great rugby and you feel under the cosh – the tour gave us real confidence.
“However, we are under no illusions because they are No1 in the World for a reason and have been there for a long time. Now it is up to us to really challenge them and England are always confident playing at Twickenham and believe in what we are doing and the direction the team is going. The November schedule of tests is great and we are not underestimating any of the teams. We will give them the respect they deserve but we are an England team that wants to fight to get up to where we belong.
“We are really excited about the matchup with New Zealand and while we wanted to have better results last season, the great thing about rugby is you get another chance to right some wrongs.”
Besides helping England’s cause, Vunipola wants to help Saracens retain their English Premiership title and become Europe’s top team again by reclaiming the Champions Cup which Leinster won so convincingly last season. While he appeared in 12 tests in as many months from June last year and was also a key figure in the Saracens team, Vunipola insists he was not running on empty by the end of the season. “The toughest bit of last season was when the club results weren’t going well and mentally it was hard to keep up all the time” added the 27-year-old.
“There was no point where I felt it was wearing me down but it is physically tough. I like to play and hate missing out on games so it is a bit of a double-edged sword.
“If the club asks me if I want to play then nine times out of ten I will say yes and when I feel I need a break then they are very good. The Champions Cup gets stronger every season and Leinster are in the lead which means everyone else has to play catch up. We want to be back up there in Europe.
“There is a lot of excitement when you look forward to all that is coming up, including the World Cup. With Saracens there is the chance to defend our Premiership title while also pushing for another Champions Cup.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Though Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
1 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
69 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
2 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
69 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
2 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
221 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
221 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
29 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
221 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
221 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to comments