Vunipola’s coming ‘home’

BILLY VUNIPOLA says he will feel only love towards Wales when he leads the charge of the white brigade.

England’s star forward needs nobody to tell him how fierce the rugby rivalry is between the two countries, particularly with a Six Nations title on the line.

He grew up in South Wales where, as he bluntly put it in his autobiography, “everyone used to hate England. They were the enemy.”

He now wears the Red Rose, calls England home and knows he will cop an earful at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Yet Vunipola cannot forget the kindness the people of Pontypool showed his family when they first came to the UK.

“It is a big game but there is no hate,” he said. “Our family hold a lot of people in high regard in Wales; people who helped us out. And when I say helped us out, I mean really helped us out.” Vunipola explains how he arrived as a six-year-old from Fiji into a Welsh winter dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

“We didn’t know what to bring,” said the 38cap No.8. “We were carrying knives and forks in our luggage – you probably wouldn’t be able to do that now.

“You know when it’s cold and you can see yourself breathing? We thought that was the coolest thing ever – until we got home and it was still there.

“We pretended we were like the old guys smoking but it wasn’t cool when you were trying to go to sleep and it was still cold.”

Vunipola’s father Fe’ao, a Tongan international hooker, had joined Pontypool and took his family with him.

“We were very naive when we first came over and didn’t think it would be that cold,” said the 26-year-old, who later moved across the border with his family and went to school at Harrow.

“We have a lot of people in Wales to thank for little gestures like extra duvets, pillows and jumpers.

“But also for big things too, like helping with visas and my dad’s work permit. Terry Gordon, the Pontypool kit man, took pity on my dad and his little family.

“He recently passed away and we were at his funeral in Wales a few months ago. He’ll be in my thoughts on Saturday.”

This is not the fighting talk we have come to expect ahead of AngloWelsh showdowns and this one has more on it than most given both sides are unbeaten.

But Vunipola is vowing to raise his game in the absence of injured brother Mako and Saracens club mate Maro Itoje.

“This game runs a little bit deeper, and everyone knows that,” he said. “We have to be prepared to fight that. “But for me love works better than hate because with hate you think everything’s wrong and it’s not your fault, it’s everyone else’s. With love you have a clear mind.”