England internationals Billy and Mako Vunipola will leave Saracens at the end of this season, the Gallagher Premiership club have announced.
The brothers have proved integral to Saracens’ success on domestic and European stages, in addition to enjoying glittering Test careers.
Number eight Billy has spent 11 years at Saracens since joining from Wasps in 2013.
During his time with the club he has won five Premiership titles and three European crowns – in 194 appearances – and in a statement, Vunipola described playing for Saracens as an “honour”.
He said: “It has been an honour to represent the people and this great club. I will treasure my time here for the rest of my life.”
On the international stage, he has represented England 75 times, winning three Six Nations titles – including the Grand Slam in 2016 – and was part of the side that finished second and third respectively in the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.
Earlier this month Vunipola received a formal warning from the Rugby Football Union following his drunken arrest in Majorca in April, but was not sanctioned further by the governing body.
Speaking about his departure, Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall thanked Vunipola for his time at the club.
“To watch Billy develop into a world-class number eight and a thoughtful, supportive team-mate has been a privilege for us all,” McCall said.
“He has contributed enormously to the progress we have made as a club. On the field his intuition and amazing skill-set, combined with his competitive spirit and physical attributes, made him a force to be reckoned with.
“Off the field Billy was sensitive to the needs of the group and a fantastic mentor to many younger players.
“We thank him for all he has done and wish him, Simone and Judah every happiness and success on their new adventure.”
Prop Mako, meanwhile, joined Saracens’ academy in 2011, going on to win five Premiership titles and three European trophies during 229 appearances.
He was selected for three successive British and Irish Lions tours, playing in nine Tests, and won 79 England caps.
McCall added: “Few players change how their position is played. Mako’s all-around skill-set, rugby intelligence and physicality made us – as coaches – rethink what is possible from a loosehead prop.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here