Manu Vunipola (born 4 May 2000) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. Born in New Zealand, he has represented England under-18s and England under-20s.

Personal life

Vunipola was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and grew up in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. He is the son of former Tongan international

Elisi Vunipola Elisi Busco Vunipola (born 5 July 1972, in Nuku'alofa) is a Tongan former rugby union player. He played as fly-half. Career Vunipola debuted for Tonga in the match against Fiji, in Nuku'alofa, on 24 March 1990. He played the 1995 and 1999 World ...

, and the cousin of

teammates

Billy Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a youn ...

and

Mako Vunipola Mako Vunipola (born 14 January 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a loosehead prop for English club Saracens and the England national team. Born in New Zealand to Tongan parents, he qualified for England through residenc ...

. He attended

The King Alfred School, Highbridge The King Alfred School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Highbridge, Somerset, England. It is an academy and part of The Priory Learning Trust. It serves Brent Knoll, Highbridge, Burnham-on-Sea and the surrounding vi ...

. As a junior, he played for

Burnham Burnham may refer to: Places Canada *Burnham, Saskatchewan England *Burnham, Buckinghamshire ** Burnham railway station ** Burnham Grammar School *Burnham Green, Hertfordshire, location of The White Horse * Burnham, Lincolnshire **High Burnham, ...

RFC, and captained the

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

rugby team.

Career

Club career

In 2017, Vunipola played for Saracens under-18s in the Aviva Premiership under-18s finals day. Vunipola then played for Saracens Storm, the A team of Saracens, and also played on loan for

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

. Vunipola made his Saracens debut in January 2019, in a

2018–19 Premiership Rugby Cup The 2018–19 Premiership Rugby Cup was the 47th season of England's national rugby union cup competition and the first under the new Premiership Rugby Cup format following the disbanding of the Anglo-Welsh Cup at the end of the 2017–18 season d ...

match against Harlequins. He made his

debut in a 2018–19 match against

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

, and later made his first Premiership Rugby start in a match against

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

. In September 2019, Vunipola scored his first try for Saracens in a

2019–20 Premiership Rugby The 2019–20 Gallagher Premiership was the 33rd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the second one to be sponsored by Gallagher. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their fif ...

match against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

. In January 2020, Vunipola scored 17 points in a 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage match, as Saracens beat

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

22–15. In the same month, referee

Luke Pearce Luke Pearce (born 13 November 1987) is a British rugby union referee representing the Rugby Football Union. He is a regular referee in the English Premiership and has refereed games at European level and at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Refereeing ...

appointed Vunipola as Saracens captain, after Pearce decided he did not want to speak with

Jackson Wray Jackson Wray (born 10 November 1990) is an English rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of ru ...

during a match against Harlequins. In a February 2020 Premiership Rugby match against Sale, Vunipola scored 17 points and won a man of the match award. He has re-signed with Saracens until at least the 2022–23 season.

International career

In 2018, Vunipola was called up to the England under-18s team. In total, he made four appearances for the team. Vunipola made his first start for England under-20s in their final match of the

2019 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2019 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was the 12th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. France were the defending champions. Ireland won the tournament and a Grand Slam, a ...

against Scotland under-20s. He had made two previous substitute appearances in the tournament. He was selected for the

2019 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2019 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the twelfth edition of the premier age-grade competition for rugby. The tournament was held in Argentina for the second time, having been hosted there in 2010. Defending champions France won the un ...

in Argentina, and also for the

2020 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2020 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was the 13th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ireland were the defending champions, having won the 2019 Championship with a Gra ...

. He played in the Six Nations match against France under-20s in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, but missed the match against Ireland under-20s after returning to Tonga for personal reasons. As of February 2020, he has made nine appearances for England under-20s.

References

External links

Saracens profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vunipola, Manu 2000 births Living people English people of Tongan descent English rugby union players New Zealand emigrants to England New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Auckland Saracens F.C. players Rugby union players from Somerset People educated at Harrow School