“He's a sick thing”: in Montpellier, Billy Vunipola is the dad

In six months at Montpellier, Billy Vunipola has established himself as the boss of the Montpellier locker room. His exemplary nature, his leadership, his “Franglais” and his performances are unanimously acclaimed at the club.

It has become a habit, a reflex. At every press conference, Billy Vunipola's name is mentioned even though he is not the main subject at all. Asked this week about the contribution of Bernard Laporte to the MHR, Baptiste Erdocio deviates. “It's true that we have a top group. And I can talk about Billy Vunipola. When we talk about an international star, he's a crazy thing. He makes the effort to speak French, he's a leader… He's a guy we rely on and who is really very important in this group”, the Montpellier pillar says, gratuitously.

Two months earlier, Geoffrey Doumayrou was questioned about building leaders in a team. “Leader, you either are or you're not. Billy, he arrived, he immediately showed his leadership, notably by his exemplarity”, breathes the boss of the defense.

Another example ? Asked to take stock halfway through the championship, Bernard Laporte is questioned about the mid-season results and the emerging dynamic. “A lot of new players arrived this summer, and they're all senior players. One of them, Billy, is our captain”, recalls the sporting director.

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Whatever the subject, the English number eight (32 years old, 74 caps) is always the subject of a short sentence, an anecdote, a compliment.

“He ticks all the boxes”

At a press conference this Thursday, Antoine Battut explained the reasons for his omnipresence in the debates. “Billy has really been surprising since he's been here”, says the boss of the Hérault touchline. “First of all, he is a player who works hard, who does not rest on his status. He is the first to do extra physical training at the end of training. He studies the opponent as soon as he can. He makes the effort to speak French, to learn the language every week. Then he is in the transmission. After his extra physical training, he spends time with Solomon Shand (English third row of the training center), barely of age.”

Battut sums up the boy's contribution in one sentence: “He ticks all the boxes of the experienced player who is focused on his team's results.”

Even if he is still approximate, Vunipola uses the language of Molière to communicate with his men. And when he gets stuck, he dips into that of Shakespeare, offering a linguistic mix that is striking enough to captivate the troops. He can also count on his son, 4 years old and enrolled in a French school, to give him a few private lessons.

The former Saracens player is therefore not just a colossus (1.92m, 134kg) capable of resisting three tasers in a nightclub. Nor did he come to Montpellier in early retirement, as one might have feared when his signing was announced. No, today, at the MHR, the dad is Vunipola.

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