Vunipola warns England to ‘turn up or we go home’
No8 says his team-mates cannot live ‘in fairyland’ Youngs wants fast start to avoid repeat of 2011
Billy Vunipola has revealed he warned his fellow England players at training this week not to live “in fairyland” by assuming they will beat Australia in their World Cup quarter-final today, telling them there can be “no excuses” if they lose in Oita.
The No8 issued his reality check to give his team-mates a stark reminder of the consequences if they “don’t turn up” as England strive to reach their first semi-final since 2007.
Vunipola’s urgency is understandable, given that he was forced to watch the quarter-finals on television four years ago after England suffered the humiliation of being knocked out in the pool stages of their own World Cup when they lost to Australia at Twickenham.
He revealed his warning to his team-mates came at the end of their main training session of the week on Wednesday.
“I said it as a joke and I think I shocked a few of the boys,” said Vunipola, who was passed fit that day having sustained an ankle injury in the victory over Argentina and will today start his 13th successive Test match for England this year, the only player to do so.
“Wednesday is our biggest training day, and I said it as a remark just to check the boys, ‘Lads, this could be our last session’.
“I had a few stares from the lads and they just all laughed it off, but I was, like, I am being serious, if we don’t turn up, we are going home.
“It is always nice to remind yourself, you don’t want to live in fairyland, because you get to Sunday and it’s done, and that’s when the excuses come up.
“But if you just take it head on, we have talked about it already, made sure we know what the consequences are. We also know if we can keep playing the way we have been playing, but just that little bit better, we will be in a good place.”
Ben Youngs, one of only three players in the starting XV to have played in a World Cup quarter-final, during England’s 2011 World Cup campaign in New Zealand – along with Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes – echoed Vunipola’s sentiment as he said it was important for the side to get off to a fast start, as they had failed to do in the defeat by France eight years ago.
“It’s a fantastic occasion and my experience of that is just about making sure the intensity of the game doesn’t shock you in the beginning,” Youngs said.
“France raced that day into a lead and we couldn’t pull ourselves back, so it comes to making sure we come out of the blocks, bring that intensity from the start, so I imagine the first 20 minutes will be pretty full-on.
“For everyone who is involved in the quarter-final, all this preparation – we have been in camp since June – you aren’t going to accept things not going your way. You are going to fight right until the end. We have some boys in this team who don’t know when they are beaten and I’m sure any team participating this weekend will fight until the very end.”
More than 20,000 England supporters are expected to be in the Oita Stadium today and Youngs said the team were determined not to let them down.
“The interaction with fans, the messages of support we get is big,” the England scrum-half said. “Obviously social media is huge for that, you can see that. We are fully aware of that now. It spurs the team on, for sure. It’s great that there will be so many people tuning in tomorrow, up early wearing the shirt, feeling very proud. We know that support is there, that only helps the belief within the side and wanting to do well.”
Australia, however, were also in confident mood, typified by the selection of 19-year-old Jordan Petaia for just his third cap and his first at outside centre, with coach Michael Cheika vowing that “fear was dead” for his side.
“He’s got an extraordinary skill set,” John Mitchell, England’s defence coach, said of Petaia, the Queensland Reds player.
“We’re well aware of that. He’s tall, he’s got good footwork, he’s got an offload, so he’s a dangerous athlete. [But] it would be unthoughtful of us to put all our energies on a teenager and one player. Collectively they have an attacking game and their selection is based around their attack.
“Their midfield has the ability to be direct and to distribute as well. We’re ready for all of that and we’re looking forward to that.
“We enjoy defence, it’s part of our game. It’s infectious to us, it gives us energy. There are a number of ways you can describe being physical but ultimately we want to be physical.
“It’s important to dominate the collision. That creates slowness of ball and it brings opportunities. Ultimately, defence is a form of attack and you have to feed your attack.”