Billy and I can mix it up in back row says Faletau

Taulupe Faletau insists he will have no qualms switching to flanker for the Lions if it means starting alongside his cousin and No.8 rival, Billy Vunipola.
Faletau grew up playing garden rugby with Vunipola and his brother, Mako, in South Wales before they pursued different career pathways.
However, they remain close and Faletau told The Rugby Paper: “Billy (right) and I get on fantastically well. We moved to Wales with our families in 1998 and pretty much spent two solid years together as kids before heading different ways.
“We’ve played against each other and always kept in touch, so to have the chance of playing together in a Lions jersey is huge and something we never dreamed of.
“To go on another Lions tour means everything for me and it will be the same for Billy, Mako and the other players. Having been to Australia in 2013 and helped us win a series, I’m desperate to experience that feeling again in New Zealand.”
On his No.8 battle with Billy, Faletau added: “It’s a good problem for Gats to have and Billy’s been playing outstandingly well for England, so if he wants to play me at six and Billy at No.8, or the other way round, that would be no problem for me.
“I’ve started at flanker for Wales before and it’s one of those big selection headaches Gats is going to have, but I’ll be comfortable playing there.”
Faletau has recent experience of New Zealand, having started all three matches for Wales during last year’s three-match series whitewash.
Wales were competitive for large parts but ended up losing by a combined score of 121-43, demonstrating the magnitude of the task facing the Lions.
Faletau said: “New Zealand are the best team in the world and have been for the best part of a decade, so it’s going to be a huge challenge.
“They’re pretty relentless; they keep going until the final whistle goes and that showed over the three games we had against them, when we were well in them until the last 20 minutes or so but they seemed to just up their intensity.
“They never allowed us to rest and that’s what told in the end, which shows the fitness levels we must reach in order to challenge them.”
Faletau faced All Blacks No.8 and captain Kieran Read in all three Tests and would love another crack at a man on whom he models his own game.
“You’ve got to admire Read’s all-round game,” Faletau said. “He’s capable of serving in the back row wherever they need him and he’s got that X-factor about him when it comes to ball-carrying, passing and those subtle off-loading skills.
“He can create something out of nothing, scores tries and he’s a fantastic leader for New Zealand.
“He’s definitely a player I’ve looked at a lot for what he does and I’ve tried to take the really good parts and mould them on to my game, like his work around the maul and that X-factor he brings around the loose. He’s a great example.”
The Vunipola brothers are the tenth pair of brothers selected to tour together in a Lions party, and the fourth chosen from England.
Each of the four home unions can boast siblings who have made Lions trips together. Scott and Gavin Hastings are the only pair to make two Lions tours together in 1989, and 1993 when, for the only time to date, two pairs of brothers toured with the Lions.
The Scots were joined on that last British & Irish adventure of the amateur era by the Underwoods of England. Rory and Tony were both wings but never managed to appear together in a tour match for the Lions.
NEALE HARVEY