Star’s grovelling note that set him on path to rugby glory
Billy Vunipola, 11, stormed off after being ejected from the school team. So his teacher visited his father …
IT WAS just a childish tantrum – but it could have denied England the future chance of Rugby World Cup glory.
A scrawled letter has revealed that Billy Vunipola, one of the team’s top players, was once thrown out of his school side for rudeness.
It would have been easy to hang up his studs, but 11-year-old Billy begged his PE teacher for one more chance. Fifteen years later, Billy and Mako, his big brother, will tomorrow try to become England’s first World Cup-winning siblings since Jack and Bobby Charlton in 1966.
Billy, 26, sent the letter in 2004 to Lloyd Spacey, his teacher at The Castle School in Thornbury, Gloucs. It has been kept there ever since. “I remember Billy turning up to training during the week in a foul, surly mood,” Mr Spacey said. “He basically refused to do anything. So I said, ‘that’s fine – but you’re out of the team and you won’t be playing.’
“He stormed off home, so I decided to teach him a lesson and go round to see his dad. The next day Billy came in holding this scrap of paper with his tail between his legs.
“I let him back in the team – not least because he was our best player. ”
In the letter, Billy apologises for
“walking off on Friday” and promises to “improve my attitude”. He then begs: “Will you still accept me on the rugby team in the future as well as still being the captain – sorry.” Mr Spacey, who still keeps in touch with the Vunipola brothers, believes the episode may have been a turning point for the young man.
“I always hoped that Billy would go on to be a great player,” he said. “But he was often in trouble and we weren’t sure sometimes whether he was going the right way. Maybe this showed him the value of discipline, and always thinking of the team.”
The Vunipolas’ father, Fe’ao, was a Tongan rugby international who played in two World Cups himself. As his career took him around the world in the Nineties, his young family came with him. Mako, 28, was born in New Zealand and Billy in Australia. The family moved to Britain in 1998 so Fe’ao could take up a contract with Pontypool in South Wales. The following year the boys supported their father when he played for Tonga against England at the 1999 World Cup, in a side captained by their uncle, Elisi. The boys’ mother, Iesinga, is a methodist minister. Both boys then went to The Castle School, before winning scholarships to Harrow and Millfield. Mr Spacey, who still teaches at The Castle School, said Billy in particular stood out from his very first day.
“Both boys were big – but Billy was massive,” he said. “He used to turn up to school with a whole cooked chicken in a bag and just reach in and rip off a wing.
“He could never fit in the school rugby kit so he used to wear my boots and shirt. The other coaches used to accuse me of lying about his age.
“But they were both so skilful, and it was a privilege to watch them play rugby.”
Both brothers starred in England’s sensational 19-7 semi-final victory over New Zealand last Saturday, and now boast more than 100 caps between them. Mr Spacey said the rugby club in Thornbury will be packed tomorrow with supporters cheering on the Vunipola brothers as they take to the field in Tokyo. “We’re all just so incredibly proud,” he said.
‘We weren’t sure whether he was going the right way. Maybe this showed him the value of discipline’
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