A year ago this weekend Mako Vunipola was on the Lions’ bench for the opening match of their New Zealand tour and was pressed into action nine minutes into the second half to head off the prospect of an unthinkable defeat by a side scavenged from the lower reaches of the professional game in the land of the World Cup holders. The England prop has made 35 appearances since then and, in an age when player welfare is talked about constantly, he should be resting his feet somewhere unspoiled by rugby posts.
He duly boarded a plane this weekend, on tour but not a tourist. His campaign has another month to run with England, in need of redemption in South Africa for a three-Test series after slumping to fifth in the Six Nations and conceding 63 points to the Barbarians last Sunday. And so Vunipola – who had two rest weekends last season, one at the beginning – trudges on, not that the 27-year-old is complaining.
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“I did not have the best pre-season and had a slow start with Saracens, understandably, but the year has been OK,” says Vunipola, the man of the match last weekend when Saracens defeated Exeter at Twickenham to reclaim the Premiership title. “What has pleased me the most is being involved and having the opportunity to play so many games. Fortunately I have been injury-free.
“The hardest part of the season was midway through the Six Nations. It was not so much that I felt my tank was getting low but the disappointment at losing matches. It was hard to lift myself going back to Saracens and the transition back to club rugby was tough. We talked about it as a group of players and looked on it as an opportunity to get better which, I think, we did.”
Vunipola played at the end of the season as if it were the beginning and was named the man of the match in the semi-final victory over Wasps and in the final when, in 30C heat, he lasted 75 minutes and covered more ground with the ball in hand than any other forward and made 18 tackles.
His scrummaging, once perceived as a weakness that would stunt his international growth, has improved as the importance of the set piece has diminished. But his value lies in his contribution in the loose, where he acts like an extra back-row forward.
“I would have given myself a seven out of 10 in the play-off matches,” he says. “I could have done better in one or two scrums and at times got back into the game quicker but overall it was pretty pleasing.”
When it is put to him that he made the game look easy with his perpetual motion and constant involvement, he replies: “It is not. I am fortunate to have great team-mates. I just push hard in the scrum and whatever comes after that is a bonus.”
There is likely to be some scrum pushing in South Africa, one of the few countries who still regard the set piece as something more than cosmetic. They have recalled Bismarck du Plessis, who was in South Africa’s World Cup-winning squad in 2007, when Eddie Jones was a consultant for the Springboks, while a survivor from the 2009 series victory over the Lions, Tendai Mtawarira, is approaching 100 caps at loosehead prop.
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“South Africans pride themselves on how physical they are,” says Vunipola. “That will be the first and foremost challenge for us as a team. They are a very emotional people who wear their hearts on their sleeves and we know we are going to have to be ready in the opening 20 minutes of the first Test when, with a new coach and a new team, they will come out with guns blazing.
“I am fortunate at Saracens to have played alongside some great South Africans. They are the nicest people off the field but on it they will do everything to intimidate you and gain the upper hand. Schalk Brits and Schalk Burger have given me a few hints about what to watch out for, and they epitomise how rugby there is played: it is scary some of the things they can do, skilful but first and foremost they want to hurt you with massive tackles.”
Vunipola will take his body into the fray for a final month before getting July off but, when he returns, he faces more than 13 months of rugby, with the World Cup in Japan looming in September next year. “When I was younger, I did not realise how much effort you have to put in at the start of a week to get yourself right,” he says. “As I’ve got older, I know my body better and what I need to do. I never go up to the coaches and say I am not quite up to it today because I would feel guilty watching other players work. I just enjoy playing.”