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Mako Vunipola now has a new claim to No1 fame

(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Mako Vunipola wears a No1 jersey for a living in the Saracens and England front row, but the loosehead now has a new claim to fame, sweeping to glory to become the RugbyPass FIFA charity tournament’s first-ever northern hemisphere champion. He is donating his $2,000 prize to the justgiving.com page set up by 99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore, who walked 100 laps of his garden to raise funds for the pandemic fighting NHS.

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Competing in a tournament jam-packed with household names from the world of European rugby, the likes of Ellis Genge, Tom Curry, Adam Hastings, Anthony Watson and Freddie Burns to name but five of the stellar cast, Vunipola was irrepressible in seeing off all rivals in the knockout format competition that kept rugby players and fans royally entertained during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. 

Vunipola, who started out as Bayern, switched to Manchester United and then played as Liverpool in his closing three matches, began his all-conquering run with a comfortable 2-0 win over cousin Manu Vunipola, who played as Barcelona.

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Mako Vunipola takes on Denis Buckley in the final of the RugbyPass FIFA charity tournament

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Mako Vunipola takes on Denis Buckley in the final of the RugbyPass FIFA charity tournament

Another 2-0 win followed over Leon Brown’s France before he schooled Nowell’s Juventus in the quarter-finals. Billy Searle had the honour of becoming the first player to score against Vunipola, going one-nil ahead in the semi-final with PSG. 

However, he fell prey to a convincing comeback, losing out 3-1, and this experience came in useful for Vunipola in the final as he also had to come from behind to beat Denis Buckley’s PSG 3-2 in the tournament final.  

During the decider, Vunipola explained why he had jettisoned his real-life Manchester United favourites after just one outing on PlayStation in favour of Liverpool. “I support Man United but I couldn’t go Man United against PSG because they have two cowboys at the back,” he said. 

Buckley’s claim to fame was his injury-time winner over early favourite Genge, who had used little-fancied Watford to destroy Ashton Hewitt’s Manchester City. “They call me Nasa in this game because I always find space,” enthused the Leicester and England prop during that stunning victory. 

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The match of the tournament proved to the early-round meeting of Nowell and Hastings, an eight-goal thriller which tipped the way of the enthusiastic England winner with a late goal for a 5-3 win. 

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AM 8 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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