'Like sucking eggs': Banned star's comical tackle school take

Australian-born English international Billy Vunipola has offered some rare, if not comical, insight into World Rugby's tackle school.

Vunipola copped a red card after his shoulder made contact with the head of Ireland's Andrew Porter in a Rugby World Cup warm-up.

Going to tackle school allowed the No.8 to have his sanction downgraded, making him available for England's second Rugby World Cup match against Japan.

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However, he wasn't selected by Steve Borthwick in the first XV for that match, instead, he came off the bench in the second half.

Vunipolo will start when England face Chile on Sunday at 1:45am.

Billy Vunipola passes the ball during the Rugby World Cup match between England and Japan.

Speaking ahead of their penultimate group stage match, the 30-year-old said going through World Rugby's Coaching Intervention Panel was a bit of a comedown.

"When I went through it, Kev (Sinfield, England defence coach) is very well rehearsed in running those tackle schools," Vunipola explained.

"It's probably not a good thing to say that but for me, it did feel a little bit like sucking eggs but it taught me a lot in terms of my technique and he was very good at his job.

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"When you do it you have to film it. I learned a lot about using my arms and the biggest thing was lowering my height. 

"I am such a big guy, I am so used to using my body as a mechanism to stop someone rather than technically get in the right position so it was good for me and hopefully, you won't be seeing any of that (high tackling) anymore."

Ellis Genge takes on Billy Vunipola during a training session.

Asked about the sanction and not being the first pick for the game against Japan, Vunipola said he contained any emotion.

"The worst part of not playing is having to do extra fitness! For me playing is huge," he said.

"The more I can play, the better I am as a player.

"That's a well-known fact for me personally, and from previous coaches.

"Hopefully, I can go out there and play really well but until we get there, you don't know."

Vunipola was one of three players who copped red cards over the last four matches.

Owen Farrell will return for England after serving a four-match ban. 

He was unable to go to tackle school having already attended it this year. 

Tom Curry will miss the Chile game but will be available for England's final pool match against Samoa on October 7 having been re-educated.

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Sinfield said players are ultimately prone to mistakes occasionally, but reiterated constant reinforcement is important.

"As Billy said, we have done a number of them now but these guys are humans and when they are in a competition as intense as this unfortunately players are going to make mistakes. We have got to try and help them, keep educating them and working with them," he said.

"We are seeing this at elite level but it's grassroots where we have got to really push and help people to really understand about tackling and also understand as well that sometimes people get it wrong."

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