Billy rues lack of a silver-lining finale
BILLY VUNIPOLA admits England’s impressive 23-20 victory over France is tinged with the disappointment of knowing pride and not silverware is at stake weekend.
Maro Itoje’s late try at Twickenham powered Eddie Jones’ men to their best win since the 2019 World Cup to lift the Six Nations holders out of the doldrums as the expense of France’s Grand-Slam bid.
Vunipola views a rejuvenating result grounded on endeavour and resilience as a launchpad similar to the third-Test victory over South Africa in 2018.
But with defeats by Scotland and Wales ending their title defence, the England number eight accepts Saturday’s closing clash with Ireland has limited meaning.
‘We’ve talked about wanting to be the greatest team in the world and this will give us confidence, knowing we can mix it with the best teams out there and beat them,’ Vunipola said.
‘That really showed against France, so this can definitely be a springboard, especially next week in Ireland.
‘There’s no use playing well against France and not backing it up. We want to do the same if not better.
‘But while it was a big win, we want to be competing for the title. We’d like to be going into Ireland knowing our destiny is in our hands.
‘I know people will say it’s a shame that we’re not in the title race, but we have to learn to move forward. When Eddie Jones first came in (as head coach) we had bombed out of the 2015 World Cup so you have to start from somewhere and, unfortunately, this is where we’re starting from as a team this year.
‘If you look back to 2018, we lost five on the trot. But we won that game in South Africa in the third Test when people thought we were done and we kicked on from that point. This could be a similar point.’