England vs Wales: Taulupe Faletau fired up for showdown with cousin Billy Vunipola

The pair lived just 10 minutes apart and spent most weekends playing together while growing up

Wales No 8 Taulupe Faletau (Getty Images)

The pitch has changed, the grandness of the stage has shifted markedly but the rivalry remains the same years on from the Pontypool garden where Taulupe Faletau first used to play with the Vunipola brothers.

The battle between Faletau and the younger of the Vunipola siblings, Billy, will go a long way to deciding the outcome of this year’s Six Nations Championship but it is one that has been years in the making.

Growing up in Wales, the cousins of sorts – “our mothers are related,” explains Faletau vaguely – lived just 10 minutes apart and would spend most of their weekends together pursuing their early rugby passions.

“Most of the mini-games we had were in Billy and Mako’s back garden,” recalls Wales’ back-row pivot. “Billy and my brother against me and Mako, we’d spend our time playing rugby out there.

“We’ve driven past it a few times to see the little patch of grass we used to play on. I can’t believe half the stuff we used to do on there. I thought it was pretty big but, going back now, I realise how small it was. We tried to do anything and everything, it was good times. I reckon we won most of the games.”

Faletau is hopeful those victorious beginnings are replicated in the result at Twickenham today, a youthful rivalry having been transformed into “something I never thought would happen”.

The bunch of young forwards would throw the ball around in the garden and then venture to the local park to kick conversions, at which the Vunipolas were markedly better than Faletau, by the latter’s own admission.

Today, rather than bragging rights on the local playing fields, at stake potentially is the destination of the Six Nations title.

The trio will all catch up before the match but the focus is on the tussle between Wales’ top tackler in Faletau and England’s leading ball-carrier in the younger Vunipola, who Faletau says “has been outstanding”. He adds: “He’s probably their best and he leads from the front.”

But come the start of the match, cousin Billy will be an opponent like any other.

“When it comes to kick-off it’s another game of rugby and he’ll be doing his best for his team and I’ll do the same for mine,” adds Faletau. “You don’t realise who is opposite you until after the game.”

Wales captain Sam Warburton has described Faletau as “arguably the best No 8 in the world” and it is clear that England have marked him out as a danger man: Chris Robshaw was apparently heard to shout in training this week, “Faletau’s breaking!”

Wales’ back-row forward shrugs his shoulders at the suggestion he might be flattered by such praise before shifting the focus back onto his opposite number.

“Billy’s on fire at the moment,” he says. “Maybe it’s the change of management, but he seems to have had a new lease of life, and he’s going well. When he brings it up to the line he’s devastating and we just have to get him early and not give him much time on the ball – but it’s easier said than done.”

Growing up, Faletau was initially positioned in the second row, Billy Vunipola at prop, but eventually both forced their way through to the base of the pack, where they have both operated brilliantly in the Six Nations tournament to date.

The mouthwatering clash has led to no shortage of column inches – though Faletau has not been reading them. They range from the story of Billy running into one of the junior coaches and breaking his ribs, to Wales nearly losing Faletau to England – like his cousins – when Sale were supposedly on the verge of snapping him up before the Dragons signed him.

The pair’s last memorable encounter came at the World Cup as Wales edged a tight contest 28-25 at Twickenham. It is a venue that has become home for the Vunipolas – and home from home of a sort for Faletau, with fluctuating fortunes against England, from defeat there in last season’s Six Nations to the World Cup success.

“You can never get too used to it,” he says. “There’s always that buzz when you drive through in the coach and come out of that tunnel; you always get a buzz from it and enjoy those moments.”

Moments like that will be even sweeter today if he edges the family affair and helps Wales to another victory.