Saracens fear the worst after Vunipola suffers knee injury
Billy Vunipola is a major doubt for the autumn internationals after he suffered a knee injury during Saracens’ 4113 win over Sale Sharks.
The 24-year-old, who has just returned from the shoulder problem that forced him to miss the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, sustained the injury in the first half at Allianz Park and received lengthy treatment on the pitch before limping off with the support of two medics.
And Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall admitted he feared the worst, with Vunipola now almost certain to miss England’s pre-autumn training camp, which meets today.
“He is off at the moment getting a scan,” said McCall. “It is a knee injury and let’s pray and hope, it is not as bad as it looked. It was very cruel luck and we obviously feel for him terribly.”
England begin their autumn campaign against Argentina at Twickenham on Nov 11, before hosting Australia and Samoa.
Meanwhile, head coach Eddie Jones has vowed he will not look to rugby league to bolster his squad as he searches for the X-factor to win the 2019 World Cup.
Stuart Lancaster, who was head coach at the 2015 tournament, gambled on including league convert Sam Burgess in his squad to solve his midfield dilemma despite little opportunity to prove himself in the 15-a-side code.
The experiment proved a failure as Burgess returned to Australia to resume his rugby league career just weeks after the World Cup final. And Jones has insisted that, two years out from the next tournament, he would not look to encourage English-qualified rugby league stars to convert to union for his solution.
“We don’t sign players, we are the RFU, we don’t sign players so it is a non-question. Steve Brown [RFU chief executive] doesn’t come down and say ‘here’s £500,000 spend it on a player’.
“I don’t have that option, I can’t influence recruitment. So that question is totally irrelevant to me. I can’t say to Chelsea you sign Costa over there or Tigers you sign George Smith – I can’t do that it, it is not my responsibility. It is a nonsense.
“My job is to pick from the Premiership clubs, we have a relationship with the clubs. We don’t tell them to recruit. If they want to recruit rugby league players and they are good enough to play for England them we will pick them. That is all we pick from from.”
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall cut a gloomy figure in the aftermath of his side’s 41-13 victory over Sale Sharks as the bonus-point win was soured by an injury for Billy Vunipola.
It was cruel timing as the England No8, who missed out on the British Lions’ tour to New Zealand with a shoulder injury, only returned to fitness last week in Philadelphia where Saracens defeated Newcastle Falcons. He was also named in the England squad which meets up in Oxford today.
The 24-year-old appeared to twist his knee while making a tackle in the closing minutes of the first half. He was able to get back on his feet but required assistance as he hobbled off.
McCall confirmed that Vunipola had been sent for a scan and expressed concern. “It is a knee injury and let’s pray and hope, it is not as bad as it looked,” he said. “It was cruel luck and we obviDean feel for him terribly.” The injury compounds Saracens’ back-row woes as both Michael Rhodes and Schalk Burger are already out with shoulder problems. McCall said: “We have lost three very good back-row players in seven days. So, we are going to have to delve into the squad.”
Although Maro Itoje provided backrow cover and academy players are available, McCall said bringing in replacements was “possible”.
Sale were at a disadvantage even before kick-off as fly-half AJ MacGinty was taken ill. The diminutive Springbok Faf de Klerk moved from scrumhalf to No 10, while Will Cliff went from the bench to starting scrum-half.
Early on, Sale looked out of step defensively with the hosts scoring two tries through scrum-half Ben Spencer and wing Liam Williams – scoring on his Allianz Park debut.
However, the visitors gelled as the half went on and held Saracens to 17-3. McCall was unhappy with how his side ended the half. “I thought we were brilliant for the first 20 minutes,” he said, “But 17-3 at half-time felt a little bit disappointing. I felt we were more dominant than that, we were extremely physical in defence and the speed of ball we got was good, a couple of things just frustrated us in that first half.” Spencer was instrumental in Williams’s try and went on to collect a brace as he scored his side’s third after 53 minutes. Replacement prop Vincent Koch secured Saracens’ bonus point try. Nathan Earle scored Saracens’ final try with two minutes to play but the Sharks were not to be deterred.
Sale’s replacement fly-half, South African-born Scot Byron McGuigan, scored two tries including one after 80 minutes, which came off the back of a clever chip from Ben Curry.
The late concessions were a point of frustration for McCall. “It was nice to get the job done so quickly in the second half and to have the bonus point after 60 minutes,” he said. “Of course, we are disappointed with some of the line breaks with them scoring tries in the last 20 minutes.”