Wrecking ball : a big lad from a small island : my story so far

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Title:

Author:

Vunipola, Billy.

ISBN:

9781472243935

Personal Author:

Vunipola, Billy.

Publication Date:

2018

2017

Physical Description:

280 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (colour) ; 20 cm

General Note:

Originally published: 2017.

Includes index.

Abstract:

Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, and weighing almost 20 stone, Billy Vunipola is a rampaging and unmissable presence on the rugby pitch. His awesome physicality and pulsating runs have been one of the chief factors in England's dramatic upturn in fortunes. Ball in hand, Vunipola is a relentless, unbridled, unstoppable force of nature for his country, and for his club side Saracens. He was awarded three separate Man of the Match awards as England swept to the 2016 Grand Slam, and a couple of months later proved a huge thorn in Australian sides as Eddie Jones' rejuvenated team whitewashed the Wallabies 3-0 in their own backyard. 'Wrecking Ball' captures this young man's appealing personality and charisma, and covers Vunipola's peripatetic early years in Sydney then Wales, before he settled down in England to truly find his feet as a modern English rugby hero.

Personal Subject:

Vunipola, Billy.

Subject Term:

Rugby Union football players -- England -- Biography.

Biography.

Added Author:

Portnoi, Gershon.

Copies:

Available:*

Library

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Shelf Number

796.333092

Material Type

Book

Item Barcode

30116020644439

Status

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Library

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Shelf Number

MSC 920 VUNIPOLA

Material Type

Book

Item Barcode

30116020645113

Status

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Library

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Shelf Number

BIOG 920

Material Type

Book

Item Barcode

30117803163530

Status

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Library

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Shelf Number

BIOG 920

Material Type

Book

Item Barcode

30117803165253

Status

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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Voted Rugby Book of the Year at the 2018 Sports Book Awards.

Wrecking Ball is a captivating and humorous memoir by Billy Vunipola, one of the stars of England's recent rugby renaissance, and will be enjoyed by those who have read the recent autobiographies by Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter and Paul O'Connell.

Standing at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing almost 20 stone, Billy is a rampaging and unmissable presence on the rugby pitch, for both club and country.

Wrecking Ball is his captivating story so far, chronicling his remarkable personal odyssey of 10,000 miles, from the tiny Tongan village of Longo Longo to the imposing vastness of Twickenham.

Join Billy on his journey from the year-round sunshine of Tonga to the bitter cold of a British winter, from his favourite Pontypool kebab shop to finding himself eating broccoli for breakfast, and from carefree childhood games in the middle of the Pacific to the serious business of playing professional rugby in Europe.

Wrecking Ball is a wonderfully eccentric and witty book, written with bags of charm. It captures Billy's colourful family and upbringing, and creates a rounded and fascinating portrait of a young man finding his feet as a modern English rugby player.

Author Notes

Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1992 to a father who was a Tongan rugby legend, Billy Vunipola moved to Wales as a child before settling in England and gaining a scholarship to Harrow School.
After a spell at Wasps, he joined Saracens in 2013 and has never looked back. His England debut followed that same year, and he has already won 34 caps at the tender age of 24. After a disappointing World Cup in 2015, England - with Vunipola as the spearhead - swept to their first Grand Slam for thirteen years in the 2016 Six Nations.
Eddie Jones' rejuvenated side then recorded their first ever Test series in Australia, whitewashing the Wallabies 3-0, with Vunipola again very much to the fore, and then reclaimed their 2017 Six Nations crown.
Vunipola was selected in Warren Gatland's British & Irish Lions squad for the tour to New Zealand, but had to withdraw due to injury.

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