Big Billy is back in the thick of it
VUNIPOLA EYES ENGLAND TOUR SPOT at the Madejski Stadium
BILLY VUNIPOLA bashed his way back into England contention as Saracens booked a home semifinal for May by swatting relegated London Irish aside.
Vunipola yesterday completed his third comeback of the season with a heavily-strapped right arm after breaking it 15 weeks ago. His real test — given that the last two times he has returned from knocks he has re-injured himself — comes against Gloucester next Saturday.
Eddie Jones will hope the No 8 can survive that match and the play- offs before the South Africa tour in June. Vunipola has not played a Test match since March 2017 and his country needs him. ‘It is just great to have him back,’ said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall. ‘It was really tough when he broke his arm and he was very emotional straight after but he just believes whatever will be will be. He’s back doing what he loves doing best.’
While Vunipola eyes a spot on the tour to South Africa, McCall confirmed there would be no such trip for Sarries lock George Kruis, who requires ankle surgery.
Irish knew they were sunk before kick-off, with Worcester’s 44-13 win against Harlequins sealing their fate on Saturday.
The Exiles have been heading towards relegation back to the Championship for months. But despite being doomed, they did not roll over against Sarries yesterday. Indeed, at half-time they only trailed by two points.
It looked grim when the visitors went 13-0 up after 26 minutes, with unconverted tries from Brad Barritt and Duncan Taylor and an Owen Farrell penalty.
But Irish came back after a Sarries spillage allowed Joe Cokanasiga to run in from 60 metres to score what will be one of his last tries for Irish. Johnny Williams then powered through for the home side to score under the posts just before the break, and it meant the scoreline shone rather kindly on Irish.
The inevitable Sarries surge came after half-time as Michael Rhodes and Marcelo Bosch scored after rolling mauls, with Farrell converting both tries to resume normal service. With 20 minutes left Vunipola came on to a rapturous reception, and typically he went about pulverising defenders.
A third try from a line-out came with eight minutes left — Richard Barrington this time — with Farrell knocking over the kick. Alex Goode then raced through and Schalk Brits scored Saracens’ seventh — assisted by Vunipola — to complete the rout. Farrell added the conversion to send the score past 50. Job done. Home semi-final secure.
Irish slipped silently away, and who knows when they will be back.
‘It is far from a foregone conclusion that we’ll bounce back up,’ said boss Declan Kidney. ‘We only want people in the club who want to be here.’