Mako and Billy Vunipola are latest players to sign long-term deals with Saracens

The brothers have been in fine form for their club of late

Billy Vunipola has been in fine form since Christmas (Getty Images)

Saracens have secured the Vunipola siblings, Mako and Billy, on long-term contract extensions – another decisive move by the Londoners, who have already retained the services of the England midfielders Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt, along with the brilliant back-five prospect Maro Itoje.

Mako, the 24-year-old prop who joined from Bristol in 2011, has been operating at the peak of his powers following injury problems early in the season. Billy, two years younger, had issues of a different kind around the same time – the 20st “baby brother” suffered a sharp loss of form during the autumn internationals and was dropped from the national squad as a result – but he too has turned in some spellbinding performances since Christmas.

London Welsh, meanwhile, were equally busy and if Joe Carlisle and Josh Davies do not carry quite the same clout as the naturalised Tongans at Saracens, they are likely to give the relegated Exiles a competitive edge in next season’s second-tier Championship.

Carlisle, an outside-half who spent time with Worcester and Wasps before heading for Italy to play Pro 12 rugby at Treviso, is a very sound recruit. Davies, a scrum-half, joins from Plymouth Albion.

The inaugural European Champions Cup has not delivered in full, as 30,000 empty seats at Twickenham will remind us when Clermont Auvergne and Toulon meet in Saturday’s final, but the organisers have at least made some progress in piecing together a management structure in time for next season.

Simon Halliday, the former Bath and Harlequins centre who played in a World Cup final for England almost a quarter of a century ago, has been named as the board’s first independent chairman.

Just as significantly in terms of the commercial development of a competition still seeking a number of major financial backers, the Swiss sports and business executive Vincent Gaillard has secured the role of director general. Gaillard joins European Professional Club Rugby with a brief to maximise the value of the new venture, born after two years of open warfare between the professional club movement and its various governing bodies.

“I hope my years of rugby experience on and off the pitch, combined with a lifetime career in finance, will be of benefit as the organisation develops,” Halliday said. “The growth of European club rugby over the last number of years has been remarkable and it’s very exciting to be part of what promises to be a great future for the tournaments.”