McIlroy is tailor made for success
REPORTS BILLY VUNIPOLA has declared that no one will hold any fears for England when the draw for the 2019 World Cup is made today.
The Saracens No8 believes there is no such thing as a group of death for England any longer with the progress they have made under Eddie Jones, since they drowned in the killer pool at the 2015 tournament.
As world No2, England are guaranteed to avoid holders New Zealand as well as Ireland and Australia in Japan, with the top four in the rankings kept apart from each other.
They could conceivably land South Africa and Argentina in their group, with the Pumas having slipped to No9 and into the third tier of sides in the draw, but Vunipola feels the Six Nations champions are equipped to cope with the Rugby Championship elite.
“It’s just like the Champions Cup – you’re going to have to play all the best teams if you want to win the thing anyway,” said Vunipola yesterday.
“You shouldn’t be too worried if you prepare as well as you can and Eddie always makes sure we do. We tend not to worry about other teams.
“If you do have Argentina, the goal is to try to beat them and hopefully that means that you’ll be more battle-hardened for the knockout stages.”
Vunipola scored in the opening game against Fiji two years ago but was then invalided out of the tournament they are planning to offer her a wild card into the Aegon Classic in Birmingham before Wimbledon.
The decision has been made, apparently, with the backing of Michael Downey, the outgoing chief executive.
“I haven’t spoken to Downey or anyone at the LTA about those decisions and they are the ones who make them,” said Murray.
“I don’t agree with every decision they make performance-wise or grassroots-wise.
“It has been a very divisive subject. Some people think it’s absolutely fine, some people think that it isn’t, that she shouldn’t be getting any wild cards at all, or getting them into qualies, it has divided a lot of opinion.
“I made myself pretty clear earlier in the year but these are not my decisions to make and they are going to do what they think is best for the tournament.”
Murray was speaking after his opening match at the Madrid Open, a straightforward 6-4, 6-3 win over Marius Copil, the world No104 from Romania.
The 6ft 4in Copil was the more aggressive player in the first set, with Murray well below his best. It took Murray until the 10th game to break his serve but he finally began to attack Copil’s backhand.
Murray looked far more focused in the second set and seized the initiative at 3-2 and from there eased to victory in one hour and 23 minutes – without facing a break point.
Murray will face Borna Coric or Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who meet today, in the last 16. RORY McILROY has returned to competition in his first event as a married man, celebrating further after signing a reputed $100million deal with golf equipment giant, TaylorMade.
This deal comes after McIlroy re-signed what was believed to be a $200m 10-year Nike apparel deal just before the Masters.
“I left Augusta very unhappy having tried many combinations this year that just were not working and it was the ball that led me to this point of signing on with TaylorMade,” said McIlroy ahead of the Players Championship, which starts tomorrow in Florida. “I got back from our honeymoon on Thursday and I have been testing the new clubs.”
On the subject of his residential status in the US, McIlroy added: “I have been a bit of nomad the last couple of years, but from January 1 next year I am going to be a legal resident of the United States and legally have a home, so I am excited for that.”