England Internationals returning from Injury: How did they fare?

England Internationals returning from Injury: How did they fare?

 

 

Billy Vunipola

The gargantuan number 8 didn’t look a second off the pace all day as he ran rampant against a challenging Wasps side. He was a wrecking-ball in attack and was his side’s top carrier in the pack, making 48m from 12 carries. He ran over attempted tacklers, sometimes two at a time, leading to a couple of linebreaks. He also was employed as an effective link man, showing great hands to put his teammates through gaps and hit Farrell in behind to unleash the pacey backline. He was only substituted after 70 minutes which was even more impressive given the duration of his layoff due to injury. It looks like the back row will easily make it back into the England XV for the Six Nations.


 

Maro Itoje


The second row had a miraculous recovery from his broken jaw, returning just 4 weeks post-injury. Though he played the full 80 minutes and didn’t look to be struggling for any match fitness, he wasn’t his usual reliable self. He made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes as it looked like he tried to force a couple of turnovers and offloads, leading to handling errors. Nonetheless he worked tirelessly around the park, disrupting Wasps ball at the breakdown and maul. The Saracens lineout functioned almost perfectly which can be attributed to the youngster’s cool-headed calling and effective jumping. It shouldn’t be long before he is back to full form.

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