Billy Vunipola is 'strongest he’s ever been' after injury lay-off, Kelly Brown warns Scotland

Impact management: England head coach Eddie Jones tackles Billy Vunipola in a training session
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Chris Jones8 March 2017

Kelly Brown has warned Scotland that Billy Vunipola is stronger than ever and ready to thunder back onto the international stage at Twickenham on Saturday, despite having played just 72 minutes of rugby in the past four months.

Vunipola, who needed knee surgery in November, looks certain to start against the Scots after head coach Eddie Jones left whiteboards detailing the team lying around at training. The boards also revealed Ben Youngs, Jonathan Joseph and Jack Nowell are recalled.

This was almost certainly yet another of Jones’s mind games but former Scotland captain Brown is confident Vunipola will go straight back into the XV, having played alongside him in his comeback game, at Newcastle, on Sunday.

With both of the Vunipolas back in the England picture, Brown is wary of the impact they could have.

He said: “Billy and Mako are huge players for England and they have been missed.

“They bring power but also ball-playing ability and Mako, over the last year, has been the best prop in the world with his ability to step, pass and offload. He is a dangerous player.

“Billy has worked really hard with our strength and conditioning team at Sarries. He’s the strongest he has been and that is a scary prospect. I imagine he could be pretty devastating.

“The Scotland pack will face a tough shift. They know England are going to be coming hard at them. With Mako and Billy, it will be about the power game and Scotland must match that.”

Scotland, whose last victory over England at Twickenham came in 1983, are chasing the Triple Crown, while England hope to equal New Zealand’s world record of 18 successive wins which would keep them on course for a second consecutive Grand Slam.

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Brown believes this Scotland side can be a real threat. “They will respect this England side but we have players who can hurt teams,” he said.

“They will want to fire into England and give it a crack. They have quite a few threats from anywhere on the pitch.”

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