No Vunipola, No Willis – but England have found another ‘lump hammer’ No 8

It has been a while since England have felt the welcome blast of a benevolent typhoon from the South Seas, blowing at their backs, but Greg Fisilau is a young man in the shape and form to provide it. Manu Tuilagi’s unique combination of foot speed and impactful strength were crucial to the 2019 World Cup runners-up coached by Eddie Jones being able to graft a threatening attack onto the staple English diet of set-piece and kicking. In the same era, the Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, were wonderful all-rounders; leaning into or onto the scrum with heft, while distributing round the field like auxiliary fly-halves. Last week on his England debut as a substitute against Australia, and now with another power-packed cameo in Saturday’s thrashing of Japan by 78 points to 15, Fisilau, whose father Kenni played for Tonga, re-established a link that might now run all the way through to next year’s World Cup. Straight away, it should be said the 23-year-old is not “the new Billy”, the younger Vunipola who played exclusively at No 8 for England and Saracens. Nor is Fisilau the new Tom Willis, who had looked to be the answer to a dearth of hard-hitting No 8s until he quit Saracens for French club rugby in the summer, making him off limits to England, who only pick from the domestic Prem. But what Fisilau can do with his will to smash through contact, and his skill at keeping the ball alive, is lend a missing dimension to England’s all-round game plan.It might need him to dovetail with a big No 6 such as Ollie Chessum or Alex Coles, but the entire make-up of England’s pack is always a matter of finding a balance, and you can bet the head coach Steve Borthwick has a firm template of what he wants to see there, with just 11 months to go before the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Fisilau’s physicality stood out in the last 20 minutes of the game (Photo: Getty) The current squad is going to be very close to the one who will go to Australia for the big tournament next October, so Fisilau’s presence, albeit off the bench so far, indicates his strong chance of being involved. After last week’s debut, Fisilau celebrated his heritage by wearing a garland of chocolate treats, similar to the one we’d seen around the fly-half Finn Russell’s neck, gifted to him by appreciative relatives of the Tonga-descended Sione Tuipulotu, on the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour. After this second England senior appearance, Fisilau was kept on the pitch by England’s S&C staff after the final whistle, making shuttle runs from the 22-metre line to the tryline that are part of the warm-down prescribed for a substitute. It left him blowing just a little, but he was entitled to that after the energy he’d already expended splattering blue Japanese jerseys left, right and centre. Fisilau (right) celebrated his debut in style last week (Photo: Getty) It was worse for him in the story he once told of his dad making him walk home from a running session – Fisilau grew up in Plymouth, where his father Kenni, the international centre, played 200 times for the local Albion club. Another family tale is that baby Gregory was encouraged to crawl up and down the stairs to get an early start on the skills he’d need to play rugby. And he has since done more than his time on the England pathway, with 20 appearances for the under-20s and a couple for the A team. Fisilau also survived the rupture of Wasps going into administration in 2022, which took him and Manny Feyi-Waboso to Exeter Chiefs instead. David Flatman on Saturday’s ITV commentary praised the Fisilau force as: “Carried like a steam train, hit like a lump hammer.” And Ugo Monye in the post-match analysis mused on whether Fisilau might have snuck ahead of Henry Pollock as the back-up No 8 to Ben Earl. Read more Analysis: Shock win over New Zealand needs to become the moment that saved Welsh rugby Comment: My England teammate owned up to a media leak – it made us stronger The truth is England will tailor a back row to their opponents and to the needs of a World Cup pool programme that sees them take on Tonga and Zimbabwe before facing Wales. A 23-man game and a 33-man squad demands both depth and variety. Billy Vunipola is now playing for Montpellier in France, and was joined across the Channel in the summer by Willis, the outstanding No 8 carrier in the Prem last season, who now plays for Bordeaux-Begles. Fisilau at 108kg and 1.88m is built differently from both: Vunipola was the same height but 18kg heavier; Willis, 1.91m tall, is around 120kg. Rob Baxter, Fisilau’s head coach at Exeter sounded cautious after Fisilau’s England debut when he said: “He’s still a very young man and has still got a lot of rugby, both physical and rugby development, to go. I see this as being like a kick-off point for Greg.” But Borthwick has already indicated he expects a couple of bolters to bolster the established names, and Fisilau could well be one of them.