Saracens must wait for Vunipola
BILLY VUNIPOLA will miss the start of the domestic season with the shoulder injury which sidelined him for the Lions tour.
The Saracens and England No 8 is still recuperating from the operation he underwent in May and is expected to miss the opening month of the Premiership campaign.
“Billy is due back some time in October but in true Billy style, he will make it back before that. He is champing at the bit and the medics are taking care of him, but it won’t be long,” said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall.
The European champions will also play it cautiously over the involvement of their Lions tourists with only George Kruis set to start the season as they bid to reclaim their Premiership crown following their final defeat by Exeter in May.
Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and new signing Liam Williams are all set to be drip-fed into the side as September progresses.
“We do think that we need to take a long view. As a club we are not looking to get our pound of flesh out of the guys,” said McCall.
The club’s Lions contingent want to play in the opening game against Northampton a week on Saturday at Twickenham according to England fly-half Farrell, but he says they will reluctantly follow orders. “We enjoy playing rugby. You want to get back to throwing a ball around.
“But other people know about timings and how long we should play and train better than we do so we’ll leave it up to them.”
ULSTER have signed standoff Christian Lealiifano, the Australian who was diagnosed with leukaemia last year, on a five-month contract from ACT Brumbies.
Lealiifano, who has won 19 caps for the Wallabies, said: “I’m really excited to be joining up with Ulster. I can’t wait to experience the rugby and the culture in Belfast.”