‘Extraordinary’ Vunipola storms back
Wasps 15 Saracens 38 Att: 17,677
Saracens, listless and unproductive before Christmas when they lost seven in a row, have rediscovered their old selves – that cussed, tightknit bunch on the prowl for honours. The gang are back together and playing with menace. Billy Vunipola, in his first outing in almost four months following knee surgery in September, was at the heart of a spirited performance, the bonus point helping to halve the gap on Premiership leaders Exeter and teeing them up for a backs-tothe-wall defence of their European crown over the next fortnight.
No matter that it was a pudding of a pitch, no matter that it was chilly, no matter that they were up against one of the Premiership’s high-flying teams – this was Wasps’ first defeat in seven league games – Vunipola had waited too long for this moment not to clutch it close to his mighty bosom and put in a performance to savour.
“That was extraordinary,” said Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark Mccall. “You could see how motivated he was, the hunger he had. History has shown that he always comes back well from injury. He had a brilliant game.”
The Saracens No 8, after 15 weeks out, part of a year of misery with three bouts of surgery on various knee and shoulder injuries, looked like he had never been away. Vunipola, mindful that he only has three games in which to press his Six Nations claims, played with relish and intent, having a hand in all three of Saracens’s first-half tries.
Eddie Jones remarked earlier in the week on just how much England miss a player of Vunipola’s calibre. Test matches are shaped by the go-forward yardage teams can rack up. Vunipola offers plenty of possibility in that regard as he showed time and again, ploughing through would-be tacklers, defenders clinging to him but with no more substance than as if they were fluffy brambles from a bush.
Vunipola already looks up to pace. Of course, there is more to come from him, of course, international rugby is another level, but if this was an audition for the big championship productions to come, starting against Italy in Rome on Feb 4, he has gone from casting couch to centre stage in one stride.
Saracens’ character was evident as they withstood a fierce Wasps rally just before half-time that saw the hosts score two quick-fire tries when their opponents were reduced to 13 men with Schalk Burger and Owen Farrell in the sin-bin for different offences. But this is a reborn Saracens side, and they duly rallied, Alex Goode’s second try securing the bonus point and Ben Spencer rounding things off with a flourish with his team’s fifth of the afternoon two minutes from time.
It was impossible not to notice Vunipola’s huge frame early on. In the ninth minute, he latched onto a loose ball from a line-out and was over that gain line in a thrice. From there, Saracens piled in, working the field to the right before switching back from where a long pass by Farrell sent Chris Wyles to the line. Five minutes later, Vunipola featured again as hooker Chris Tolofua flicked on to Goode, who whizzed down the left flank to touch down. His final assist before going off after 69 minutes was even more emphatic, blasting through the combined efforts of Wasps’ forwards Thomas Young and James Gaskell to set up Burger to score.
By the end, Wasps were on their uppers. They have been crippled by injuries to their back line in particular and lost both centres, Juan de Jongh and Gaby Lovobalavu here. They only had 27 fit players from which to choose their matchday 23. It is a wonder they are doing as well as they are in third place.
They contributed fully to a lively afternoon, testing and probing but unable to cope with Saracens’ power game, all the more so without lock Joe Launchbury who was missing through illness.
They did get right back in contention with two tries when Saracens were depleted, a penalty try awarded from a driving line-out before Willie le Roux zipped across the line from slick handling just before the break. That was as close as they got.
“Put Billy Vunipola into any team and he would make a big impression,” said Wasps director of rugby Dai Young as he ruefully but accurately summed up the afternoon.