Former coach blasts 'out of shape' Billy Vunipola - Ruck

Former coach blasts ‘out of shape’ Billy Vunipola

Former Scotland coach Matt Williams has said England were ‘not at the races’ and Billy Vunipola looks ‘completely out of shape’.

“The Saracens players weren’t at the races,” said Williams, who was appearing as a pundit for the match on Irish TV channel Virgin Media One.

“Vunipola, if we didn’t know the pubs were closed you’d swear he had been in one. He was out of shape. 

“There was no way he was ready for international rugby. Owen Farrell, one of the best players in the world, was way off the mark. Even the great (Maro) Itoje gave away a lot of penalties. But I don’t want to take anything away from Scotland, they deserve all the credit and it has smashed the tournament wide open.

“Sensational win for Scotland. They were brave. That’s the cliche, but they were smart and they did it for 80 minutes. They overcame a sin-bin. An absolute brain-snap at the end, what were they thinking of taking the drop goal? Who’d be a coach? Poor Gregor (Townsend) must need resuscitation after that. 

“If they hadn’t had won, if England had scrapped that, it would have been a travesty. 


EDITORS PICKS:


LIST | 5 players Eddie Jones should call-up after Scotland defeat

1. Sam Simmonds for Billy Vunipola

He’s a bit of a renegade but, with eight tries in the Premiership already, the calls for an international recall continue to grow. Hopefully talent prevails, but in this case it’s more likely that Eddie Jones ignores fans and carries on with Vunipola. The Saracens back-rower was sin-binned against Scotland and looked very poor throughout.

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