Vunipola’s ready to shake off shackles
IT TAKES a lot to knock Billy Vunipola off his feet, but the Saracens No8 says the European Cup final loss to a Toulon inspired by Jonny Wilkinson two years ago was like being felled by a sledgehammer.
Vunipola was so shellshocked he snubbed the legendary fly-half ’s offer of a handshake after the 23-6 defeat in Cardiff – and things only got worse.
A week later Vunipola was in the Sarries side beaten by Northampton in the final play of extra-time in the Premiership final, and then had to head to New Zealand for an England tour against the world champions.
Premiership finalists could not play in the first Test, he was on the bench for the second, and started the third – a 36-13 defeat in Hamilton. It all added up to a dire few weeks.
But today the 23-year-old gets the chance to wipe the slate clean when Saracens take on another stellar fly-half in Dan Carter and his Racing 92 outfit in the Champions Cup final in Lyon. After being voted England Player of the Year at the Rugby Players’ Association awards last week, Vunipola is ready to land some blows on Carter and his crew.
“At the time I didn’t really realise what an impact it [the Toulon defeat] had on me,” said Vunipola. “Looking back, it knocked me for six and it was tough to take.
“I was using it as an excuse for how poorly I was playing.
“I also remember at the time I was pretty arrogant about it all and trying to brush it off as if I was invincible. It was a great learning curve for me and hopefully I am going to keep pushing myself to get to the very, very top.
“I have learned from it. We have lost some more highprofile games and you just get on with it and realise that teams are working as hard as you and doing as much as we are as a team.
“You can’t really put it down to yourself, it is just the way things go.” Vunipola’s perennial struggle with the scales is a thing of the past for now. He still tips them at a healthy 19 stones but the fluctuations are under control, thanks to swerving some seasonal goodies before the Six Nations. Being made one of England’s three vice-captains by Eddie Jones did not do him any harm either.
“The biggest thing was finding my faith again and just humbling myself and realising there is a lot of hard work to be done. I just knuckled down and did it,” he said.
Vunipola will have some of his English Grand Slamwinning comrades on his shoulder this afternoon. Brother Mako, George Kruis, Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Alex Goode are all set to be involved. Before this season’s Six Nations triumph, no England team had won a Grand Slam since 2003. On the club front, the last English victor in Europe’s top-tier competition was Wasps in 2007.
If Vunipola and Saracens do the business they will haul English club rugby off the canvas as well.
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