Monday 3 April 2017 17:48, UK
Will Greenwood believes Billy Vunipola is becoming so influential for Saracens and England that he deserves to be compared to Jonny Wilkinson.
Vunipola was a key part of a Saracens side that outclassed Glasgow Warriors in the European Champions Cup on Sunday, winning 38-13 to set up a semi-final clash with Munster at Dublin's Aviva Stadium in three weeks' time.
Leinster will travel to Nice to take on Clermont Auvergne in the other semi-final and Greenwood believes Vunipola is someone all three of the other sides will fear.
"The worry for everyone else is Billy Vunipola," Greenwood said. "He is now getting such a reputation that you can just call him 'Billy' like Jonny Wilkinson was called 'Jonny'.
"He just has the one name. He is becoming that important to English rugby.
"Billy is getting fitter and fitter at No 8 and the longer this competition goes, the better he will become.
"He is just a human battering ram who wins at the gain line, which puts Farrell on the front foot and they play with pace and tempo and they look dangerous."
While Greenwood was impressed with Saracens and Vunipola in particular, he believes the competition is still wide open.
"There is absolutely no question that all four teams in this competition can win the tournament," Greenwood said.
"Saracens have the muscle memory and have the confidence of being last year's champions but don't discount any of those sides."
Wasps full-back Willie Le Roux has come in for criticism for knocking the ball on in the midst of a flamboyant dive after crossing the line in his side's 32-17 defeat to Leinster.
Greenwood, however, defended the South African, noting what an excellent finisher he typically is and felt the blunder was immaterial to the final result.
"Had he scored that, Leinster still win that game," Greenwood said. "It was one of those games where they were super impressive.
"Their back row of [Jack] Conan, [Sean O'Brien] O'Brien and [Dan] Leavy were brilliant in over the ball and provided great ball carrying.
"[Robbie] Henshaw looks every inch a Lion now and you argue he is a starting Lion in that first Test. He is so good and so quick.
"And up front [Tadhg] Furlong and [Jack] McGrath are 100 per cent booked on the plane to go. It was a brilliant performance.
"Munster were awesome against Toulouse and in the wet down in Clermont against a top-class Toulon side, Clermont rolled their sleeves up - they've been called chokers for years - but they did a job on them."
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