England prop Mako Vunipola ahead of schedule in recovery at Rugby World Cup
Written by News on 18/09/2019
Mako Vunipola has handed England a fitness boost days before their Rugby World Cup opener as he returned to live scrummaging ahead of schedule in his recovery from a hamstring strain.
Front-row forward Vunipola and winger Jack Nowell have both already been ruled out of England’s Pool C opener against Tonga in Sapporo on Sunday, but their participation in Wednesday’s training session, along with injury doubts Mark Wilson and Joe Cokanasiga, ensured all 31 members of Eddie Jones’ squad were active.
Despite Vunipola’s progress, scrum coach Neal Hatley warned that England’s confidence in their squad depth means they are unlikely to rush the Saracens loosehead back before their third pool game, against Argentina on October 5.
“We’ve had a really good day,” Hatley said. “Everyone’s trained. Mark Wilson’s trained, Joe Cokanasiga’s trained, Mako’s done live scrums, Jack Nowell’s been flying down the side of the pitch, so really pleased with where we are and how people are coming on.
“With the short turnaround, we’ll see where we get to with him (Vunipola). We’ve got obviously Joe (Marler) and Ellis (Genge), two fantastic looseheads, so we’re not going to push Mak, but it’s brilliant where he is, we didn’t think he’d be doing live scrums today.
“So it’s testament the work that the medical staff’s done and how hard Mak’s worked that he’s back in a position to do live scrums early.”
Vunipola underwent surgery after injuring his hamstring in Saracens’ Heineken Cup final victory in May, before suffering a re-occurrence of the problem in England’s warm-up victory over Ireland last month.
(c) Sky Sports 2019: England prop Mako Vunipola ahead of schedule in recovery at Rugby World Cup
