Billy Vunipola retains England ambition despite ‘honest’ talk with Borthwick | England rugby union team

Billy Vunipola revealed that Steve Borthwick has been “very honest” with him over his England omission for the Six Nations but the Saracens No 8 remains determined to force his way back into the international fold.

After spending most of last season out of Eddie Jones’s plans, Vunipola was recalled for the summer tour of Australia and excelled against the Wallabies, most notably in the backs-to-the-wall second Test win in Brisbane. A difficult autumn campaign followed, however, and Vunipola was the high-profile omission from Borthwick’s first campaign as head coach.

Alex Dombrandt has been preferred with the Harlequins No 8 starting all five matches under Borthwick but he has struggled to impose himself in a back row that has looked lightweight, particularly in the humiliating record defeat by France. All the while Vunipola has starred for Saracens with his director of rugby, Mark McCall, declaring his response “unbelievable” after outshining Dombrandt in his side’s 36-24 win against Harlequins on Saturday.

England have just four warm-up matches before their World Cup campaign begins and while Montpellier’s Zach Mercer will also come into the No 8 reckoning, Vunipola has not given up on his international ambitions. “I played with [Steve at Saracens],” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of respect there. Very good coach, very detailed. When we first had a meeting he was very good and very honest with me. I went away and worked on it.

“Accepting it and moving on has been the most freeing thing for me. And also just putting in the hard work away from prying eyes. That’s what has helped me be a lot more consistent this year than last year. I’ve just got to work myself into the team.

“I watch the games. And it’s hard for me not to say something sometimes. But it’s not my job to commentate. I’m still playing, and I want to play. So I just watch [England] from afar. I stay away from the stadium or the corporate stuff, I don’t do any of that. It’s tough being there. Knowing that you’ve been not picked and doing things almost … to me feels like I’m almost accepting my fate. So I’d rather stay away from it. And that’s helped me to be driven in wanting to get back into the team. I didn’t sulk, it was important not to sulk, it was important to move on.”

McCall also believes that Vunipola is in “as good a physical condition” as he has seen and the 30-year-old revealed the key to staying in shape. “Training more, eating less. Simple formula but hard to do sometimes, especially in St Albans where there’s Deliveroo all over the shop – that’s not a plug by the way.”