BILLY VUNIPOLA COULD be in line for a recall to England’s starting XV for this weekend’s Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland at Twickenham if a photo that emerged from the Six Nations champions’ training session today is an accurate guide to their line-up.
Two whiteboards at the side of the pitch at England’s training base in Bagshot, southwest of London, showed Vunipola at No 8 instead of Nathan Hughes.
Both Billy, playing his first game in three months, and brother Mako Vunipola, an England prop, enjoyed plenty of game time as English and European champions Saracens won 35-27 away to Newcastle in the Premiership on Sunday.
Billy started at Kingston Park, three weeks ahead of schedule, after recovering from knee ligament damage suffered in November.
He played all but the last eight minutes against Newcastle and could now feature in both of England’s final two games of the Six Nations, with a possible title-decider against Ireland in Dublin on 18 March following hot on the heels of the Scotland match.
Vunipola’s elder brother Mako also played 72 minutes against Newcastle after being released by England in a bid to gain more match time, having come off the bench midway through the second half of last weekend’s 36-15 win over Italy at Twickenham.
Other possible changes for the Triple Crown clash could see Ben Youngs restored to the role of starting scrum-half in place of Danny Care, and Jonathan Joseph back in midfield at the expense of Ben Te’o.
England coach Eddie Jones is not adverse to kidding the media, but both Vunipola brothers were included in his 24-man squad named today, although the Australian is not due to name the team to play Scotland until Thursday.
Back-row Jack Clifford has been dropped, but wing Anthony Watson, fit following a hamstring injury, was included and could be named on the bench instead of Jonny May.
England could retain the Six Nations title if they beat Scotland and Wales defeat Ireland in Cardiff on Friday.
Victory against a Scotland side who last won at Twickenham in 1983 would see England equal world champions New Zealand’s record of 18 successive Test wins by a leading or ‘tier one’ rugby union nation.
England’s 24-man squad:
Forwards: Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints).
Backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
Really feel like we can get two wins from three over there. They’ll have an inexperienced coach, a massive loss with pollard although the likes of jantjies,lambi and goosen aren’t bad, a few aging players and du preez is another huge loss for them.
Bring the likes of Henderson and O Mahony back into the set up and hopefully the likes of McCloskey,Olding,Gilroy,Marshall,Healy,Ringrose can get their chance to prove themselves. Looking forward to it.
1 win would be a success considering it’s never been done before. 2 would require some serious celebrations. And 3 would probably result in the boks going into hiding and would incite a civil war.
Given the publicised politics surrounding the appointment. It will be interesting to see the selection for the Boks. Coetzee will be under significant public pressure to select new players and will they be able to do the job ?
Can’t wait too. The Ireland camp will target a win. Everything else will be a bonus. As ever, worried about the third test. We could be knackered by then with a load of injuries.
Coetzee is a very conservative coach there wont be too many new players blooded.
What’s his record & style of play like? SA where pretty dour under Meyer
Coetzee was a strong front runner only for the fact that all his competitors pulled out of the race when it was made clear selections will need to be made to appease the politicians. Nick Mallet, Rassie Erasmus, Johan Ackermann and a no. of international coaches pulled the pin & rightly so. It was very publicly stated that the new coach needs to work within certain perimeters and achieve transformation targets. In other words results come second…..
What a joke
Well the job was never publicly offered at any point, so therefore no one technically turned downed the job. Rassie did publicly state that if the job was offered to him he would take it but like I said before SARU want him in his current position as the head of the high performance unit. Johan Akerman in my opinion will get the job eventually but on his own terms with his own team when he is ready. As long as SARU operate like they still in the amateur era then the Springboks will always play catch up to the All blacks. As a Springbok fan I’m not too worried just yet, watching our varsity cup teams and baby boks there is plenty talent to keep us challenging at the top table. The biggest problem south african rugby faces is poaching of our underage talent.
Johan will not get the job on his own terms, that’s my point exactly. Poaching is a massive problem, but politics is an even bigger issue, don’t lose sight of that.
He did take the stormers into the play-offs 4 times in 6 years and he won a currie cup with western province. To say he lacks ability is a bit far fetched. If you remember correctly Jake White had only won a junior world cup and had no super rugby experience when he took over the springboks.
Do you think 4 x playoffs in Super Rugby with a golden generation of players is a good return? Currie Cup is meaningless as none of the top players in SA compete in the compo. Facts are, there are way better out there to select, however they have made themselves unavailable… Coetzee has the experience, but is very limited. His hands will be tied when selecting his team & backroom staff.
100% its not a good return but in saying that domestic success does not equate to automatic international success they can be mutually exclusive. The Currie cup that he won in 2012 was when Springboks were still allowed to play in the knockout phase. SARU would never appoint a foreign coach because the general council of 14 unions would never agree to it regardless of policy. Therefore of the current SA coaches, Jake White will never come near the job again, Heyneke lost to Japan so he had to fall on his sword, Nick Mallet is a TV presenter, Rassie and his high performance team should have got the job but SARU dont want to let him go from his position of director of rugby and Johan Akerman is not ready for the job hence him signing a 2 year extension.
I’m sure if any of the above wanted the job a plan would have been made, problem is, they didn’t which is embarrassing considering SA is supposedly a super power rugby nation. 2012 was 4 season ago, yes top Boks played, but only in semi & finals…..
Wow! Wouldn’t even make the cut in T2 rugby…