THE 20st HULK WITH THE HANDS OF AN ANGEL
A childhood spent honing skill over brawn has made Mako Vunipola England’s new front-row superstar
EDDIE JONES said when he took over as England coach that there was not a single player in the country he considered to be world class. Today, almost a year into his so-far-unbeaten tenure, England — and Saracens for that matter — arguably have four.
Of Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Billy and Mako Vunipola, it is the eldest of the Vunipola brothers, Mako, whose progress under Jones has been most vivid. England’s loosehead prop is in the form of his life.
The 25-year-old has returned from Australia — where he took with both hands the opportunity afforded him by Joe Marler’s decision to stay at home to rediscover his mojo — and maintained his extraordinary form in the Aviva Premiership as well as in Europe.
His display in Saracens’ historic victory over three-time champions Toulon at the Stade Felix Mayol three weeks ago was breathtaking in every sense. It is possible that there has never been a better all-round display by an Englishqualified prop forward.
His dummy and 25-yard run for a try against the Scarlets a week later showed all the speed, skill and footwork of a top-class centre, let alone a 20st prop. Asked if the senior Vunipola had moved into the worldclass category on his watch, Jones was unusually gushing.
‘I think he’s galloping towards it,’ he said. ‘He’s fitter and his workrate is better and he’s backing his skills more. He is a tight forward who can carry the ball to the line and pass. There are probably only six or seven backs in England who can do that. People talk about the skill set the All Blacks have, well Mako has a skill set better than all those All Black tight-forwards.’
High praise from a man who less than a year ago compared Itoje with a Vauxhall Viva and labelled Tom Wood ‘distinctly mediocre’. After the Australia tour, Jones sent a letter to Vunipola telling the New Zealandborn star of Tongan descent not to eat too much while on holiday.
‘Eddie wouldn’t say anything that he didn’t mean,’ said Vunipola. ‘That’s the best thing about him — he is straight to the point and tells you what you need to work on straight away. He has worked with a few Island boys down under and knows how to manage us. We’re very lucky to have him. Conditioning is an ongoing thing for me.’
Through the sheer quality of his performances under Jones and Mark McCall at Saracens, the older of the two Vunipola brothers is gaining the attention more usually associated with his higher-profile younger brother, No8 Billy.
The shy and retiring senior sibling admits he finds it ‘a bit cringeworthy’ talking about himself but cannot deny his performances in the loose and set-piece have improved dramatically since some of his early appearances for England and the British Lions — on tour to Australia four years ago — were heavily criticised for a lack of technical and athletic acumen. ‘The criticism hurt, definitely,’ he said. ‘It got to me a bit as a player. It’s one of those things you have to go through. You either take it on the chin and fight it or you walk away from it. I’m very lucky I have some good people around me who supported me through that. Looking back it’s probably the best thing that happened to me. I had some good coaching at the time and that gave me great confidence.
‘I still have a lot to work on conditioning wise but the Australia tour was great for me. In the first five or 10 minutes of the first Test [in June], Australia played some good rugby and it gave me great confidence for the rest of the tour that I could play at that pace.
‘I’m working smarter and working out where I need to be rather than running around like a headless chicken. That helps as well as having a bit more energy and being in the right place at the right time, so you can get your hands on the ball or make another tackle.’
With 27 of his 38 England caps coming off the bench, the labelling of Vunipola as an ‘impact’ player was fair but his contribution to the 3-0 whitewash of Australia last summer has surely secured the starting No3 shirt for the foreseeable future.
NOW bringing the confidence to showcase his range of footballing skills to the international field, as well as improved scrummaging technique and relentless tackle count, Vunipola is replicating the form he has shown for Saracens over the past five years with England.
‘I don’t think Mako has ever played this well,’ said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall. ‘People see the eye-catching stuff and his passing ability but, in the Toulon game, he was our top tackler. His work-rate is enormous. He’s in the form of his life. I don’t think there’s a loose-head in the world who can do what he can do. That’s only just being appreciated now. People thought he was only an impact player but he has played 60, 70, 80 minutes for us over the past few seasons and people are seeing he’s not just an impact player.’
With the All Blacks so clearly out in front at the top of world rugby’s tree, Vunipola is one of England’s
crop who hold the key to elevating Jones’s team from being very good, to world class. If he does, a childhood focusing on skills over brawn will have helped get him there.
‘When I was younger, we never really restricted ourselves to one position,’ he said. ‘I sort of knew that I was too big and too slow to play anywhere else than the front row but I love having the ball in my hand and I love kicking as well.
‘I tried to do a bit of skill training on that with my brothers and my cousins when we were younger. Hopefully it is paying off now. Gone are the days when you used to have just one or two ball players or ball carriers. Everyone in the team has to be comfortable with ball in hand. You see the All Blacks do that very well from one to 15. That’s the difference between them and the rest of the world. We are still playing catch up now.’
Vunipola will start against South Africa at Twickenham in a front row also containing captain Dylan Hartley and Dan Cole at tight-head. And despite the injuries, England will start as firm favourites. And Vunipola is a key reason why.