Peter Jackson: Vunipola’s defied dad to play for England

Wales are converting another South African to their Six Nations‘ cause and Scotland are back in the business of importing kilted Kiwis.  Not to be outdone, Ireland are in a position of picking an all-Southern Hemisphere front row while England, never averse to casting their net far and wide, are in the process of adding another forward of Tongan heritage to their rejuvenated squad.
The prospect of two Vunipolas muscling into the same Red Rose pack at the World Cup in two years’ time will gladden English hearts and leave Wales wondering what might have been.  It will not thrill those in charge of recruitment to be reminded that the brothers served part of their apprenticeship in Pontypool.
Mako, the Saracens prop first capped against Fiji at Twickenham two months ago, and his 20-stone ‘little’ brother, Wasps‘ No. 8 Billy played for New Panteg, a club founded by steelworkers. Incredibly, they graduated through the same youth system at the same time as another Tongan forward, their cousin Toby Faletau.
Given their sheer power and the Polynesian exuberance which they bring to the game, it would not have taken a genius to work out that they had half a chance of making it big.  At a time when the home countries know that it pays to play the genealogical game, Wales are left to rue the two who got away.
The boys’ father, the former Tonga captain Fe’ao Vunipola, claims that he wanted both his sons to declare for Wales.  Fe’ao, now coaching the Tonga U20’s, brought the family to Wales after he signed a contract to play for Pontypool.
“I tried to convince them that they should play for Wales out of loyalty,” he said. “We lived there before moving to England so I wanted them to play for Wales.  They said they wanted to play for England.”
And so they did, starting at under-age level during the course of a public school education. Mako followed Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams in graduating from Millfield School in Somerset to the Test arena, via Bristol and Saracens. Billy, two years younger at 20, went to Harrow School, joined Wasps and has since dismayed his employers by telling them he will be decamping to Saracens next season.
His swift promotion into the England Saxons’ squad puts him on the fastest of tracks for a Test cap as the youngest member of the supporting cast for the Six Nations.  It also raises the possibility of the two old boys from New Panteg RFC – Billy and Faletau – going head-to-head when Wales welcome England to Cardiff on the final Saturday of the tournament, March 16.
They lined up on opposite sides for the Wasps-Dragons’ Amlin Cup tie last October, bumping into each other at less than full tilt, certainly as far as Vunipola junior was concerned.  “It was weird playing against Toby,’ he said. “I didn’t go out to smash him.  If he ran at me, I’d tackle him but not with the intensity I’d hit someone else because he’s my guy.   It’s like playing against my brother.”
The background of the Vunipolas highlights the value of identifying players with dual nationality at an early age.  Instead, the brothers fell into England’s lap and there can be no questioning their right to wear the Red Rose like anyone else who has spent his formative years in the English system.
Wales have settled for putting their shirt on Andries Pretorius whose three years at the Cardiff Blues makes him eligible. It’s not as if the South African can claim to be playing for the land of his father or grandfather, unlike Scotland’s latest New Zealander, Sean Maitland, and their other newcomer, Tommy Seymour from Nashville which suggests he grew up knowing more about the Grand Ole Opry than Grand Old Murrayfield.
Both qualify through Glaswegian grannies. “I can’t deny that my dream has always been to be an All Black,” Maitland said with commendable candour about his move from the Crusaders in Canterbury to the Warriors in Glasgow. “But that hasn’t happened.”
Michael Bent made the same 12,000-mile journey, from Waikato to Dublin on the strength of an Irish grandmother.  The IRFU’s need to do something about a chronic shortage of tighthead alternatives to Mike Ross led to the indecent haste with which Bent made his debut, against Argentina last November.
He went straight from the arrivals hall of Dublin airport into the national squad. His first match in Ireland was for Ireland, an unprecedented state of affairs which raised many concerns within the Irish game, not least from their celebrated Lion, Keith Wood.
The WRU, of course, are in no position to criticise given their leading role in ‘Grannygate’, the scandal which exposed, among others, the New Zealanders Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson as having won Welsh caps by claiming to have had non-existent Welsh ancestry.
Instead Wales took the safe option of picking Pretorius while resisting the addition of Ollie Kohn, the uncapped Harlequins‘ lock who does have a Welsh grandparent.  Strangely, considering they have enough busted second rows to keep a latch of locksmiths working round the clock, Kohn reports no approach from Wales.
As for the stable door, it’s been smashed to smithereens by the bolting Vunipolas.