Billy Vunipola’s injury woes

Talismanic number eight Billy Vunipola will miss England’s autumn Test series after suffering a broken arm for the third time in 2018.

Here, Press Association Sport examines the Saracens  forward’s wretched injury luck.

November 26, 2016: First knee injury.

Vunipola damaged knee cartilage in England’s 27-14 win over Argentina at Twickenham, forcing him out of action for at least three months – and out of the bulk of the following year’s Six Nations campaign.

May 21, 2017: Shoulder injury rules him out of British and Irish Lions tour.

The ever-honest Vunipola withdrew from the summer’s Lions tour to New Zealand, owing to a shoulder problem he had been managing. Vunipola had desperately battled to cope with the injury during the Lions tour, but eventually gave up the ghost, admitting defeat and opting for further treatment.

September 23, 2017: Second knee injury.

Vunipola had barely returned to action after sorting out his shoulder problem when another knee concern sidelined him again. This time he limped out of Saracens’ 41-13 win over Sale, with another knee cartilage complaint. Surgery meant Vunipola missed England’s autumn Test campaign.

January 13, 2018: Breaks right arm for the first time.

The hard-hitting back-row forward was just starting to eye full form and fitness in a bid to return for England’s Six Nations, when another setback struck. This time it was the start of his arm issues, Vunipola breaking his right arm in Saracens’ 15-15 Champions Cup draw at Ospreys. Taken off at half-time, Vunipola was unable to feel his wrist. His fracture required surgery and he was forced to sit out the entire Six Nations campaign.

June 16, 2018: Breaks right arm for second time.

The bullish number eight was again out of action before the interval, suffering a re-fracture of the right arm six months on from the original break. England lost that second Test 23-12 to South Africa in Bloemfontein, and with it the three-match series.

October 14, 2018: Breaks left arm.

Vunipola trudged off before half-time and sat on the bench icing his new injury, forced to watch as Saracens saw off Glasgow 13-3 to open their Champions Cup campaign with a victory at Scotstoun. The 25-year-old was later found to have broken his left arm – his third arm fracture of the calendar year – in an injury requiring surgery and likely to sideline him for 12 weeks. His latest setback would deprive England of one of their key attacking weapons once again, ahead of the four-Test autumn schedule.