It is just over a year since Billy Vunipola’s Test career came to a shuddering halt. Having arranged to meet Eddie Jones for a chat at a Hertfordshire pub, he thought it would be a routine catch-up. Instead the head coach informed him he was being cut from the England squad and delivered some uncomfortable home truths.
Only now, for the first time, does Vunipola feel ready to talk about it publicly. He might now be sitting pretty, just above Sydney’s Coogee beach, back in England’s starting XV and preparing for a series decider against Australia, but the past 12 months have taken him on an emotional voyage of personal discovery.
