Saracens playing it safe over Billy Vunipola in preparation of end-of-season assault

Saracens are waiting for the right moment to bring back their forward, who has recovered from a broken arm, as the end of the season closes in

Billy Vunipola could return against Bath on 15 April or be given another fortnight’s recuperation (Getty)

Saracens are playing it safe with Billy Vunipola as they prime their mighty England No 8 for an assault on the end-of-season Premiership play-offs.

Vunipola has been out with a broken arm since the middle of January and although the injury has “healed well”, he will not be picked for the trip to Northampton Saints this Saturday, and the way Sarries’ schedule is panning out means it may make sense for the talismanic 25-year-old to sit out the following week’s home match with Bath too.

Saracens are regrouping on and off the field after Sunday’s European Cup loss to Leinster in Dublin, and club chairman Nigel Wray made his customary weekly visit to the training ground in St Albans on Thursday to reassure the three-time Premiership winners there was no reason to worry after this week’s revelation he was buying out the 50 per cent ownership held by South African investors.

And while Sarries’ elimination from the European Cup they had won for the past two seasons was a big blow to morale, there is an immediate upside as it frees up a rest weekend later this month, when the European semi-finals will be played.

Vunipola could return against Bath on 15 April or be given another fortnight’s recuperation before launching his latest comeback after a series of major injuries since 2016 in one of the last two regular-season Premiership games at London Irish on 29 April and at home to Gloucester a week later.

In the Premiership table, second-placed Sarries have a six-point buffer to Leicester in fifth, and confidence is high they will gain the necessary points to secure a top-four finish, and possibly a home draw in the top two.

And Vunipola’s elder brother and fellow Saracens and England forward Mako said everything at the club is now geared towards regaining the Premiership crown they won in 2011, 2015 and 2016.

“We are just being extra cautious with him,” Mako said of his brother. “His arm has healed well, everything has gone well now. But with us not being in the European semi-final, and only four league games left, they trust him enough that, yes, they want him to have match fitness, but they’d rather him not come back and get injured again.

Billy Vunipola has been out with a broken arm since the middle of January (Getty)

“He was probably more gutted last weekend than some of the boys who were playing, as he was not able to help. He is getting bored sitting at home, he is very grumpy, he likes to be around the lads in training, having fun, and when you take that away from him he struggles to find anything else to do.

“He’s a big kid, in a way, that you give him a ball and he’ll be happy.”

Billy Vunipola watched the Dublin loss on TV, texting “hard luck” messages at the final whistle, and Mako said: “A broken arm doesn’t stop your legs moving so he has done a lot of running and he looks good. When he does play it will be contact conditioning that he needs. He looks pretty fit.”

Wray became Saracens’ chairman in the early days of rugby’s open era in November 1995, and while Mako Vunipola said players’ concerns over the current ownership developments would be relayed through club captain Brad Barritt, the loosehead prop insisted none had been expressed in recent days.

“As soon as it came out, Brad said to the boys ‘there is nothing to worry about, Nigel is going to take over full-time’,” Mako revealed.

Mako Vunipola said players were being kept in the loop with regards to Nigel Wray’s takeover (Getty Images)

“When you see your owner coming to a training session every week it is massive for us and shows that he cares more for the players and what goes on than he does about what goes on with the business.

“I can’t think off the top of my head of a game that he has missed and we are lucky to have someone who cares so much about the club.

“For us it is business as usual. We take care of what we can on the field and that stuff will take care of itself.

“If we do have any worries we can speak to Brad or even speak to Nigel directly. He is very open to talk to players.”

This time last year Saracens were still fighting on two fronts, and they buckled in the Premiership during a rigorous run-in.

Saracens are regrouping on and off the field after Sunday’s European Cup loss to Leinster in Dublin (Getty)

They fielded a weakened team in a defeat away to Wasps in the last round of the league, so as to rest star men including fly-half Owen Farrell for the following week’s European Cup final in Edinburgh.

But the Wasps result sent them to Exeter in the play-offs, where they lost a drumskin-tight match to Sam Simmonds’ late try.

That semi-final was the last Saracens saw of Billy Vunipola in the 2016-17season as the influential forward succumbed to a shoulder injury.

Mako Vunipola admitted this year’s remaining two European weekends of 21 April and 12 May would be welcome chances to put their feet up.

“I think I speak for everyone in the club when I say we’d rather be in the [European] semi-final than not be,” he said. “If you want to be the best team that’s what you’ve got to strive for. We would rather be playing in semis and finals than watching on TV.

“But we have to look at things differently, we are only in one competition now, and it does give us an opportunity to either analyse or rest up some of the bodies from a long season, and throw all our energy into one competition.

“The hardest thing for us as players is to go from big game to big game – it is more mentally, than physically. Getting to that level of knockout rugby, you have to be in the zone and to get into that every weekend is very tough.”