Billy Vunipola will miss the start of the Premiership season because of the shoulder injury that ruled him out of the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand but the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, said the No8 will be back in time for England’s autumn campaign in November.
McCall was less candid about exactly when his six Lions tourists will return to action but admitted the majority will not be used at the start of the season owing to the extra time off required following a 10-match tour that finished on 8 July. “We are not looking to get our pound of flesh out of the guys,” he said.
Vunipola underwent surgery after Saracens’ last game of the season against Exeter in May. He had pulled out of the Lions squad, opting against reporting for the training camp in Dublin despite Warren Gatland asking him to do so. He was part of England’s pre‑season training camp this month, during which Eddie Jones described him as having “the potential to be the best player in the world” and “looking fit and raring to go”.
However, after confirming Vunipola will not face Northampton at Twickenham in Saracens’ season-opener on 2 September, McCall said the 24-year-old is ahead of schedule in his recovery.
“Billy is due back some time in October but in true Billy style he will make it back before that. He is chomping at the bit and the medics are taking care of him. It won’t be long,” McCall said.
Despite an impressive summer of recruitment that has seen the arrivals of Liam Williams, Will Skelton – who is a doubt for the start of the season owing to a broken arm – Calum Clark, Christopher Tolofua and Dominic Day, Vunipola’s absence for the start of the season is a blow for McCall, who is hamstrung by the late return of his Lions.
There is nothing stopping McCall selecting his six Lions from the start of the season but, with Owen Farrell and Mako Vunipola among those who are still limited to fitness work in training, they will almost certainly not be used from the outset. Williams, Maro Itoje and Jamie George fall into that category too but McCall will consider George Kruis, who was sidelined for a large part of last season and did not play in the second or third Lions Tests.
“We do think we need to take a long view and to rush them back too early when we don’t have to would be a mistake,” McCall said. “We’re looking at the welfare of the player and at making good choices based on good reasons about when they come back.
“We also have to look back over who played how many minutes last season and the season before that. Someone like George Kruis didn’t play that much last season and didn’t play the last two Test matches [in New Zealand]. But we have some tough choices about Owen and Mako.
“They’re hungry and they all want to play but we have to protect them from themselves. It’s up to the clubs when they play the players. Whether that’s the right thing, I’m not sure. As far as I know the Irish players won’t be coming back until October.”
Jones has hinted he will rest some of England’s 15 Lions during the autumn internationals against Argentina, Australia and Samoa and McCall is hoping the national coach does go down that route. “Eddie is in a strong position,” McCall said.
“We have had conversations and he’s taking the long view and thinking about the World Cup in 2019 – it’s not all on the autumn of 2017. For them to get three or four weeks isn’t good enough at this point in time so if Eddie gives them a few weeks in the autumn it would seem sensible to me.”
