Saracens and England fans can’t wait to have Billy V back, and playing at full tilt.
Billy Vunipola has remained pretty positive despite breaking his arms three times in the space of 12 months. He fractured his right arm twice, earlier this year, and broke his left arm in October, but is hopeful of getting back for Saracens Champions Cup clashes in the coming weeks.
Vunipola joined host Alex Payne and Northampton and England star James Haskell on House of Rugby – JOE’s rugby show – and started off by showing the two massive, surgical scars he has down the inside of both forearms.
Asked about his re-hab and recovery, Vunipola replied, “It’s good. I’ve been training for three weeks now. A lot of bike fitness and leg weights, and some running.” On a return to play date, he commented:
“I’m hoping the last week of December, or maybe the first week of January. But it’s Christmas and New Year so maybe we’ll see!
“That’s about 10 weeks. The injury itself is usually 10 to 12 [weeks out]. I came back last summer, with my right arm, after about 11 weeks.
“Both arms are sweet… I’ve got two plates [and] I think I’ll get them taken out when I’m done, though. Sometimes it hurts when it gets cold.”
“When you get old, mate,” Haskell remarked, “everything hurts when it gets cold.”
Vunipola, for all his on-field feats and trophies won, is an extremely laid-back individual. He admits he used to be a little too nonchalant when it came to training – once showing up for an England session [in 2013] without his boots – and his diet.
“I’ve known Billy for years,” said Haskell, “and he has always been professional. He has been a professional until the one time I saw him eat a Dominos pizza with a chicken korma on top.
“Let’s get this clear – he got a pizza, put the korma on top and got another pizza to go on top of that. Smashed that and then drank two-litres of Fanta!”
When the laughter died down, Vunipola set the record straight:
“It was 1.25 litres of Coke. So, it was a slice of pizza… no, a whole pizza and a curry. And I don’t like wasting food, and I knew if I left it, it would go to waste.
“So, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to have to eat this’. So I ate all of it.”
Vunipola says Saracens are very good for treating players ‘like adults’ but the club’s support staff are always there to talk about training routines, diets and managing workloads.
As for his diet today, the 26-year-old says it is “pretty plain”. He comments:
“I don’t like to eat fancy stuff. My fiancé cooks a lot, and she’s really good, but she’s always trying to feed me carbs. They’re really good but something I can’t be eating right now…
“I smash breakfast. I have about three or four eggs, with toast, beans and maybe some vegetables. Lunch will be rice and something like lamb tagine or chicken; whatever we are having at the club.
“At night, I’ll just have protein and broccoli. It could be fish but I don’t care what meat it is, as long as there’s lots. Meat and broccoli. And that’s me. I can’t have much more or I’ll put on too much weight!”
The pizza curry days are in the past.
Vunipola, and a plethora of English rugby fans, will be hoping the arm-break days will soon be in his past too.
Episode six sees Alex Payne joined by James Haskell and Billy Vunipola to detail their rugby bromance, preview England vs. Australia, discuss the game’s new world order and recall fiery welcomes to, and embarrassing moments against, Wales.
