Vunipola’s England woes boost Saracens
Mako Vunipola spoke of his disappointment at missing out on his 60th Test cap due to England’s decision to stand him down over coronavirus.
Instead of propping for his country, Vunipola impressed yesterday when he played just over an hour of Saracens’ victory over Leicester.
Vunipola was told he would not be involved in the game against Wales on medical grounds after travelling back Tonga via Hong Kong even though he had no symptoms. England’s medical team advised it would be unwise to have Vunipola in the camp but Saracens were delighted to have him.
Public Health England criticised as “unnecessary” the Rugby Football Union’s decision to stand him down.
Vunipola, 29, said after the game: “I didn’t expect what happened but I can understand it. If I had thought about it more I’d have come back via a different route. It was hard at the time to get my head around it.
“I was pretty gutted when they told me because you always want to play for your country. They made their choice. We just stopped off in Hong Kong in transit for about three hours at most. England didn’t want to take the risk.
“Eddie [Jones] messaged me to apologise for the medical stuff but I completely understand it.”
Two tries from wing Alex Lewington helped Saracens to another win over a Leicester side struggling near the bottom of the table.
Saracens’ first major assault came up trumps with the ball moved swiftly from a line-out and along the back division. Manu Vunipola fed Lewington, who scythed through and over for a try with the latter adding the extras.
Tom Hardwick reduced the lead to a single point by the break through two penalties.
A well-worked move in midfield created the opportunity for Tigers to get their noses in front for the first time in the 53rd minute with Saracens’ defence caught napping. The huge frame of 6ft 7in, 19st Joe Batley powered up the centre and he offloaded to Ben White, the scrum-half having enough momentum to defy the tacklers to reach over the line. Hardwick converted.
Saracens replied impressively with Manu Vunipola’s penalty, then Tigers were reduced to 14 men with wing Telusa Veainu shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. From the penalty, the ball was switched to Dom Morris and the centre powered his way across the line. Manu Vunipola converted.
Mako Vunipola left the field and Lewington surged over in the corner for his second converted try, which put the game to rest for the hosts.