- England beat Australia 25-17 in the second Test in Brisbane.
- Billy Vunipola put on a classic performance to help England.
- “We are happy with his progress,” Eddie Jones.
In the second Test, Billy Vunipola put on a classic performance to help England defeat Australia, but Eddie Jones believes there is still more to come.
The tenacious Saracens’ number eight scored England’s try in their 25-17 victory in Brisbane, tying the series.
After being away from the team for 15 months, Vunipola has shown head coach Jones what he is capable of.
“Billy is gaining muscle. Although he still has a ways to go, we are happy with his progress,” Jones remarked.
“We selected him based on his improved club form, and he’s gotten better. With us, he is becoming fitter, and his desire to being the greatest player he can be is also getting better,” said the coach.
Vunipola, a key member of the team that won the 2019 World Cup final, had to accept being benched after the 2021 Six Nations because Saracens were competing in the Championship.
“I wasn’t performing up to the standard, therefore I was binned off for a year,” he claimed.
Two of the eights were performing better.
Last season, he returned to his dominant best and attracted attention with his performance for Saracens in the Premiership final.
Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt were both injured and unable to travel, so Vunipola was called back into the lineup and earned his 61st cap in the first Test loss last week.
England, who were dissatisfied with their performance as a pack, made an impressive comeback in Brisbane with Vunipola at the forefront.
“We were really hurting from last week,” he admitted. “Especially near the end of the game, the Australian pack beat us up there up front.”
“To obtain the front-foot ball fell to us as the forwards. When we did that, the intensity of our mauls and scrums varied.”
“We hope to improve upon this week’s performance when we perform the following week. I thought we were doing fairly well in the first half, especially the first 35 minutes, but we allowed them back into the game,” he concluded.
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