Positivity and strong genes allowed Vunipola recoveries quicker than anticipated

England international Mako Vunipola attributed the swift recovery of him and his brother Billy from their respective knee injuries to positivity and strong genes within the family.

The inclusion of both the players has bolstered England's chance of their Grand Slam title defence in the final two rounds of the Six Nations tournament against Scotland and Ireland.

Mako was among the replacements in the game against Italy while Billy has defied odds to be fit in time ahead of the Calcutta Cup tie against Scotland on Saturday.

Crediting his father and former Tonga hooker Fe'ao Vunipola, Mako believes the way they were brought up helped them become tougher.

"We're very lucky in terms of healing quickly, but also part of it is that when we were growing up, dad wouldn't accept that we were hurt in any game," Mako said.

"If we went down with a dead leg or something like that, he would say it wasn't a real injury.

"It comes from our granddad, who would always joke that if we broke a leg he would just buy a new one anyway.

"That's kind of the mindset that we have. If either of us go down, the other one will come over and say 'get back up'.

"I don't want to say we're the toughest men ever, it's more that we don't want to show a weakness to the other brother."

Billy was earlier reported to be ruled out of the entire Six Nations tournament after he was carried off a stretcher in the autumn international game against Argentina with a blow on his knee. However, the 24-year-old made an impressive comeback for Saracens, where he played 72 minutes in the game against Newcastle Falcons.

Mako also was full of praises for his brother Billy, who had a serious injury than him and was impressed with the speed at which he returned back to action.

"I've had a few knee injuries before and knew there were no shortcuts for either of us, so for Billy to get back early is a credit to him and the staff at Saracens and England," Mako said.

"It's surprising how well he's moving and in training he looks up to speed as well. It's good to see him back doing what he loves.

"The maturity he's showing is something that comes with experience. He's getting a bit older now and he knows the body is only as good as the work you put into it.

"He's learnt that the hard way and he's put in the hard graft now with this injury and done all he's needed to.

"It helped that we were injured at the same time. We didn't rehab together because he had a bigger injury than me and needed an operation. He needed to be a bit more cautious than myself.

"For him seeing me getting injured a couple of weeks after and then getting back ahead of him probably pushed him on.

"I can't speak for him, but it definitely seemed to me that he was getting a bit annoyed that I was running before he even started!"