“It’s been a good season but an eventful one,” Billy Vunipola says as he rubs a meaty hand across his brow and smiles as the memories tumble through him. After the desolation of last season’s ending, when he and Saracens lost the old Heineken Cup and the Premiership finals in successive weeks, Vunipola has been through more varied emotions this campaign.
He was replaced as England No8 in the autumn, amid accusations of arrogance from those who mean most to him, and watched Ben Morgan play outstandingly in his place. Vunipola then benefited from a twist of fate as Morgan broke his leg in January.
The Tongan-born powerhouse returned as one of England’s best players in the Six Nations. His name is now inked in as a key man in the World Cup squad to be announced on Wednesday.
There has been more turbulence and hope with Saracens. Last month Vunipola was allowed to play in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup only a few days after being cleared of head-butting Mathew Tait of Leicester. He then lost another heartbreaker in Europe, when he was Saracens’ star performer in a narrow defeat at Clermont Auvergne.
Saracens have also wavered in the Premiership. They were outside the top four play-off places going into the final weekend of the regular season but an early Vunipola try on Saturday set up the predictably easy victory over London Welsh that assured their semi‑final place. This Saturday they meet Northampton, who robbed them of the title right at the end of extra time a year ago, in a showdown to decide who makes the final again.
“I was quite low on motivation after those two finals last year,” Vunipola admits. “It was hard to lift myself up. We then had everything that went on with England in November. But I was glad I could come back and show that, once I got the opportunity again, I could do a good job. So that’s all I’ve been trying to focus on this year – trying to help my team.”
Of course Vunipola has been through much more complex emotions and he opens up when asked if his troubles started because he had become lost in a small bubble of fame as an England international. “Definitely,” he says. “And when things start to go wrong you question everything. It spirals out of control when you should just try to relax. But you start thinking just negative thoughts and you question yourself as a player and as a person. I’m glad I’ve learnt from that and got stronger. It was one of the hardest moments of my life but it was probably the big push I needed – from Stuart Lancaster and my family. Them telling me not to be lazy helped a lot.”
Vunipola’s mother, in particular, pointed out he had become arrogant as well as lazy. “She is a minister in the Methodist church in High Wycombe,” Vunipola explains. “Her job is to keep us humble, same as my father does, but she has that faith to calm us down and tell us what we don’t want to hear. She said there’s a passage in the Bible which says the arrogant will be humbled and the humble will be picked up.
“She definitely felt I was being arrogant. But it’s hard when you’re playing well to realise you are being arrogant. I’m thankful she did it. It was tough to take because it’s not what you want to hear about yourself but I needed her to say it. She said it in a few different ways at first and, when she read that passage from the Bible, I realised it’s coming from a good place. I changed my ways from then on. I stopped stressing because when your mind is cluttered it’s no good. You have to play with a clear mind.”
Amid the clutter of last autumn had Lancaster given any hints that he might be dropped? Vunipola scrunches up his face. “Yeah, there were signs. I got an injury to my eye in the South Africa game. I sprinted off to get it stitched up and then to have the coach say you’re not needed is hard. I was gutted at the time. It gave me an inkling into what would happen the following week when they were starting doing lineout drills without me. They were telling me: ‘Don’t read anything into it,’ but [Vunipola laughs] that’s quite awkward. You’ve only got two days to learn the lineouts so you’re going to do it with the guys who are starting.”
Vunipola’s disappointment was accentuated by the rampaging way in which Morgan played in his place. “Yeah, you want to be starting but I took it for granted, thinking I was ahead of him. Ben played well and he was unlucky to get injured. We don’t swap texts too often but he sent me a few nice messages before I came back for the Welsh game and afterwards as well. I did the same in the autumn when I got dropped. That shows our respect for each other.”
Morgan will be in the World Cup squad but he has not played any rugby since his injury. Vunipola, clearly, is ahead of him in the race to start at No8 – but the situation would be made intriguing if Steffon Armitage were added to Lancaster’s squad. Yet it seems likely that Armitage, European Player of the Year last season while again helping Toulon win the Champions Cup this month, will be excluded because he plays club rugby in France.
It has become a contentious issue because it is hard to believe England would not be improved significantly by the powerful presence of Armitage – an openside flanker or, occasionally, a No8. Vunipola answers in detail when I ask him for his personal view on Armitage’s eligibility for selection.
“It’s definitely a tough one. There are loads of arguments on both sides. But for me if you want to play for England that badly and you feel you deserve the opportunity, then why not stay here? I’m sure any of the 12 clubs in the Premiership would take him on. Look at me and my brother [Mako, the prop who will also be in the World Cup squad]. We’ve just signed new contracts – to play for Saracens but also for England. That was a huge driving force in our decision to stay.
“I’m sure it would add great competition if he were to be added – but it would cause a lot of stir within the squad. I would welcome competition but, on the other side, it would derail a few of the boys and the faith we have staying in England. They would start to waver and more would go. So I think Lancaster will keep the same squad. Chris Robshaw is playing unbelievably well at 7 and he’s our captain – and I don’t think the coach wants to disrupt the squad so close to the World Cup. But if he comes in, it could help make me a better player.”
Vunipola has played often enough against Armitage and Toulon. Does the exiled loose forward look exceptional to him? “I think he’s a very good player in a very, very good team. Personally I think he’s world-class but do you want to disrupt the squad you’ve got now?”
His own attention is fixed on this weekend. Last season’s controversial defeat by Northampton, his opponents again, hurt him. Saracens lost 24-20, conceding a heavily scrutinised try seven minutes into injury time. So many bodies were in the way that the match official had to watch the replay repeatedly before, without any definitive clarity, giving the decision to Northampton. The same official also disallowed a Saracens try after he decided, belatedly, that Vunipola was guilty of obstruction.
“It definitely took a long time to get over it,” Vunipola says. “There has also been quite a bit of recent history with Northampton. Before I joined Saracens they had struck up quite a difficult relationship with Northampton after Sarries won there a few times.
“Northampton said we disrespected them. We sang a song with the door open after we beat them at their place and they heard it and it sparked everything. It was before I came in and maybe we were naive. But they’ve not forgotten it. In terms of competition we know how good they are. So we would not disrespect them. But we have had a good few battles and they have come up trumps the last few games. They beat us both times in the league but we can go there and dream of winning at Franklin’s Gardens in the semis. It’s definitely possible.”
Anything seems possible against the backdrop of Vunipola’s own past. He arrived in England from Tonga on an icy January morning in 1999. Six‑year‑old Billy and his mother, brother and two sisters were met by his father, who was playing hooker for Pontypool. “I remember we came into Heathrow. My dad drove us back to Pontypool.
“It was freezing cold and I don’t think we had beds. We just slept on the floor covered by blankets. There was frost on the windows and we had never seen anything like it. When you breathe you can see the cold air and that was something we found fun – to start with.”
Vunipola adjusted to his new life and, 10 years later, he was such a forceful rugby player he was offered a scholarship to Harrow. He laughs now at a surreal if testing experience. “It was definitely a strange one. It was scary. I didn’t know anyone. I was going in the sixth form and everyone had their friends. I was boarding, too, for the first time but it wasn’t so bad after a while. Everyone was interested in me and I made friends quite quickly. It was quite an eye-opener, actually.
“This is one of the best schools in England and the facilities were crazy good. But it was weird too. On a Sunday you were meant to wear tops and tails. I’ve never admitted this to my mum but I never went to church on a Sunday because I never wanted to wear my tails – and they cost her a lot of money. Sorry, Mum!”
The muscled 24-year-old chuckles guiltily. We are sitting in a narrow passageway outside a BT Sport television studio, where Vunipola will soon appear on Rugby Tonight, and keep being told to quieten down by a technician behind a black curtain. There is time for one last question about Vunipola’s mood with the World Cup starting in exactly four months.
“I do feel the tingle,” Vunipola says, lowering his voice dramatically, “but I am held back because I might get injured or something might happen. I’m scared of thinking too far ahead but there is a tingle because England can do something special.
“We have to get out of the group but, if we do, we’ll be battle-hardened and it will give us the confidence to know we can beat anyone on the day. But I’ve learnt this year not to get ahead of myself. It’s one step at a time for me now.”
Watch both Aviva Premiership semi‑finals on 23 May, and the final at Twickenham on 30 May, exclusively live on BT Sport 1
