The Vunipola Brothers

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Two young brothers playing in Wales right at the beginning.

Billy and Mako Vunipola play rugby for England, but this was not the intended plan for them by their dad. Fe’ao Vunipola was the Captain of Tonga and had taken up a two year contract to play in Wales for Pontypool.

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Billy on the run in his earlier days.
Fe'ao knew how tough it was to be a professional rugby player and his idea was to push his kids into becoming a doctor or a lawyer. Schoolwork for the two young brothers was going to be their focus. In 1999 the boys were 6 and 8 respectively and hadn't really played that much rugby.

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One evening their dad came home to find them not doing their homework so he punished them by making them run. He was particularly hard on them trying to show them how tough being a professional athlete was. I think most sportsmen who make it who aren't gifted athletes have sacrificed loads along the way.

These punishments created memories for the boys though as they believe having their dad do this from a young age helped toughen them up. After one junior club game Fe'ao had been watching them play and was not overly impressed. The brothers team lost and on the drive home the boys were too cheerful for their dads liking so he stopped the car and made them run home.

During their schooling days their dad made sure that every night he took the boys training. Mako who was the less athletic of the brothers used to hate it ans never worried about school as he was more worried about the training that was to happen after school. The weather never phased their dad as rain or snow they would be out training.

I suppose as a parent you can probably tell from early on whether your kids are going to make something of themselves intellectually or not and Fe'ao must of thought it was a high risk option. With my kids I knew my daughter was going to be ok and my son was going to struggle academically. This I think is why their dad was so harsh on them as he was going to create choices for them so playing rugby would be an option.

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Both brothers admit having a dad who was so strict on them from an early age molded them into how they think today. The boys have been training all their lives when other kids were doing kids stuff. They never had tons of money and the toys they did have were rugby balls.

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Billy and Mako have also represented the British and Irish Lions.

Both brothers today are key members of the England Rugby team with Billy being selected at the age of 22 just 14 years after arriving in Wales. Mako was 21 when he was awarded his first English cap and has been in the England set up since 2012.

Not surprisingly their dad is proud of his two boys for what they have achieved but they couldn't have done it without him. The disciplines he installed from an early age made a massive difference and this is what made them stand out.