Billy Vunipola is fully aware of the challenge awaiting Saracens at Northampton tomorrow in the Premiership semi-finals but the No.8 is relishing the occasion.
The 22-year-old was named in Stuart Lancaster‘s England training squad ahead of the World Cup in Wednesday but, with a clash at Franklin’s Gardens against a team that has become their biggest rivals in the land, he reveals it was easy to put the World Cup aside for another two weeks.
Saracens needed a high-scoring 68-17 bonus-point win at London Welsh last week to squeeze into the Top 4 and Vunipola is now looking to break a three-game losing streak against the reigning champions.
“England is far away at the moment and I’m just focussing on the task ahead with Saracens,” he told The Rugby Paper. “We’ve got a game at Northampton tomorrow and it makes it easy to keep you on the ball.
“Our fixtures against Saints have become a big fixture in our calendar and we enjoy the rivalry with them.
“They’ve had the better of us for five of the last six times we met so hopefully we can one over them this time. Playing at the Gardens will make it even better if we win.
“We never doubted the team’s ability to make the play-offs but we left it a bit late and it was a bit worrying.
“The goal was to get in the top four and now we’ve given ourselves an opportunity to challenge for the title. Hopefully we’ll have another game next week.”
*Billy Vunipola was shortlisted for Green Flag Forward of the Season at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards. Follow @GreenFlagUK or visit www.greenflag.com to keep up to date with the breakdown cover provider.
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