Billy Vunipola’s Rugby World Cup hopes fade after knee injury ends season

Billy Vunipola’s season is over after he sustained a knee injury in Saracens’ Champions Cup defeat at La Rochelle on Sunday. Vunipola will miss the Premiership leaders’ last three games of the regular season and home semi-final, as well as the Twickenham final if they reach that stage.

It is also a blow to his hopes of mounting an England comeback in time for this autumn’s World Cup and he will not be given a time-frame for his recovery until surgery has been completed on Thursday.

Vunipola suffered the injury while carrying the ball in the first half of the quarter-final at Stade Marcel-Deflandre and had to be carried from the pitch on a stretcher. A scan has revealed the extent of the damage, leaving Saracens without their most destructive ball-carrier.

Vunipola’s form, combined with the failure of Alex Dombrandt to convince in the No 8 jersey, raised the prospect of an England comeback with the World Cup fast approaching. The former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton recently said Vunipola should be reinstated to the back row for the tournament on the basis of the ball-carrying power he provides.

But the 30-year-old, who is rumoured to not be on speaking terms with the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has been denied any further opportunities to press his claim on the pitch, even if does recover in time for September.

Emma Sing will make her first international start after being named at full-back for England's Six Nations fixture against Wales on Saturday. 

The Gloucester-Hartpury player, who has won four caps off the bench, joins the starting XV for the first time at Cardiff Arms Park, while Alex Matthews will make her first appearance of the tournament at No 8 and May Campbell could make