Mako Vunipola fighting fit for Saracens’ Champions Cup rematch with Clermont

Mako Vunipola vividly recalls the moment Saracens finally broke Clermont’s resistance in May to ensure they would be keeping hold of the Champions Cup for another year. It was the 72nd minute, when Alex Goode scored the try that put Saracens out of reach and Vunipola remembers it so clearly because he was running on fumes – the petrol warning light, by that stage, had been flashing for a while.

“I looked up at the clock and there were still eight minutes left,” says Vunipola. “I wondered how I was going to last. I remember just how tired I was at that point. It just shows how much you have to work to grind down a team like Clermont because they are never out of the game. It was one of those moments where I felt like we had broken the dam. It was a good feeling. Well, it wasn’t at the time but now, reflecting, it was.”

It is to the benefit of Saracens and Vunipola then, that the loosehead prop was given what he describes as a week of pre-season when Eddie Jones decided to rest the two-times British & Irish Lions tourist for England’s third and last autumn international against Samoa. Jones had not long beforehand said of Vunipola that he “loves playing, hates training” but the conditioning programme he was placed on has had the desired effect.

“It’s not great when someone tells you you’re not playing, you obviously want to play every game you can, especially at international level,” says Vunipola. “But I knew the plan and it’s not my choice, it’s the coach’s choice. It was different to watch the game on the sidelines and on game day, when I woke up, I didn’t really have the nerves or the jitters. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it but it’s part of the job.

“My programmes are a little bit different. Usually in the week I only think about the weekend coming up and what I need to do to improve on the previous game but it was like a pre-season week where you work on other things. For me it was refreshing, because when you get to November and December you’re usually in full-on rugby mode.”

His club return – along with those of the rest of Saracens’ injury-free internationals – did not bring an immediate end to the European champions’ poor run of results, however, and a fifth defeat in a row, by Harlequins last Sunday, led to a couple of sleepless nights for Vunipola. With Clermont, the Top 14 champions, languishing in ninth place in their domestic league though, last season’s finalists and Europe’s top titans for the last couple of years clash with a few unfamiliar doubts over form.

For both sides injuries have played their part – Saracens are without Maro Itoje, Liam Williams, Schalk Brits and Michael Rhodes while Clermont are so badly hit at fly-half that they have drafted in the versatile outside back Isaia Toeava, who has spent most of his time with the club at full-back, for Sunday’s match at Allianz Park, the first of back-to-back meetings between the sides.

“Sunday night and Monday night there wasn’t much sleep,” says Vunipola. “As a player you’re always going through situations and scenarios and think how they might have been different. It was more playing over what we can learn from Sunday and the last couple of weeks. We’ve got some experienced players and coaches who have been around long enough to know we don’t become a bad team in a week, or a month. We’re still very confident in ourselves and the great thing, at this time of year, is that it’s not the end of the world. There are no panic stations now.”

Vunipola also gives short shrift to the suggestion that Clermont’s domestic form weakens their challenge, highlighting the threat of their No8 Fritz Lee, in particular. “They’re a team with a lot of world-class players, there are a lot that pop into your head straight away but they are a team that do the basics very well,” he says. “Their set piece is second to none, the forward pack do the hard graft but they can also break you down out wide as well. There are a few x-factor players but those that make them tick are in the forwards. Fritz is a world-class No8, he leads from the front with his carrying, and we know we have to stand up to that. It’s going to take a 90-minute effort because we know they can score from anywhere.”

Vunipola is not convinced May’s 28-17 success at Murrayfield will have any bearing on Sunday’s proceedings, pointing to how Saracens recovered from losing the 2013-14 final to Toulon, a week before succumbing to Northampton in the Premiership final.

“No game is the same,” he says. “This year they have improved their squad and they will have learnt from that like we did a couple of years ago after losing both finals. There’s no such thing as having a hold over a team. It’s whoever is the better team on the day. We know how good they are and how good we have to be to beat them.”