While Billy Vunipola might have been grabbing the headlines this season, fellow England Six Nations Grand Slam winner and older brother Mako Vunipola shone as Saracens won through to the European Champions Cup final.
Both brothers impressed as Saracens beat rivals Wasps 24-17 in Saturday’s semi-final.
However, loosehead prop Mako Vunipola was particularly outstanding, putting in 19 tackles, driving hard in open play and playing a key role in a rock-solid scrum.
Photo: AFP
Saracens will be crowned champions of Europe for the first time in the London club’s history if they beat the winners of yesterday’s match between English giants Leicester and Paris-based Racing 92 in a May 14 final in Lyon.
That would go some way to easing their European heartache, with a defeat by Toulon in the 2014 final one of several near misses in the knockout stages of the continent’s leading club rugby union tournament.
“It has been tough for us,” Mako Vunipola said. “We’ve had some tough times in the last couple of years, but I think every team, if you look back, goes through that to hopefully achieve their main goal and we are no different. That experience will hopefully put us in good stead.”
Whereas Billy Vunipola has made the England No. 8 shirt his own, Mako Vunipola has been vying for the Test loosehead prop jersey with Joe Marler.
Asked if he was playing the best rugby of his career, Mako Vunipola said: “Probably. I’m very lucky, I’ve got some good players around me.”
Premiership leaders Saracens are now eyeing a domestic and European double.
Their form has been especially impressive given that the Vunipolas, fullback Alex Goode, flyhalf Owen Farrell and locks George Kruis and Maro Itoje were all involved in England’s Six Nations triumph on top of their already extensive club commitments.
“We love playing for this club and fighting for each other,” Mako Vunipola said. “Luckily today I got a few more ball carries.”
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, who said he would not swap Mako Vunipola for any other prop in the country, said the biggest change in the Wellington-born front-row’s play had been in the set-piece.
“His scrummaging has gone to a different level,” McCall said. “Everybody knows how good a rugby player he is, there’s not too many who can do what he does with the ball and how many tackles he makes. He’s a phenomenal player and today was one of his best performances.”
Saracens found themselves behind after just 73 seconds when Wasps scrumhalf Dan Robson finished off a scintillating move for a try.
However, they worked their way back into the match, with flanker Michael Rhodes’s charge-down try helping them into an 8-7 lead at halftime.
With Farrell finding some kicking form after a couple of early misses in a 14-point haul, Saracens pulled clear and sealed victory seven minutes from time with a penalty try awarded after the Wasps collapsed a powerful driving maul that started outside the 22.
“The pleasing thing with this team is the resilience,” Saracens captain Brad Barrit said.
“We know that every team is going to have their ‘golden moment’ in a game and it’s about staying focused for your next task,” the South Africa-born England center said. “That’s what we did, we applied the pressure.”
Wasps captain James Haskell, himself a member of England’s victorious Six Nations squad, was left admiring Saracens’ ability to get a grip on a game.
“Credit to Saracens,” the back-row forward said. “They are a team that plays that strangling rugby a lot of the time, and it is very difficult to make inroads.”
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