Synopsis:
Wrecking Ball is a captivating and humorous memoir by Billy Vunipola, one of the stars of England's recent rugby renaissance, and will be enjoyed by those who have read the recent autobiographies by Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter and Paul O'Connell.
Standing at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing almost 20 stone, Billy is a rampaging and unmissable presence on the rugby pitch, for both club and country.
Wrecking Ball is his captivating story so far, chronicling his remarkable personal odyssey of 10,000 miles, from the tiny Tongan village of Longo Longo to the imposing vastness of Twickenham.
Join Billy on his journey from the year-round sunshine of Tonga to the bitter cold of a British winter, from his favourite Pontypool kebab shop to finding himself eating broccoli for breakfast, and from carefree childhood games in the middle of the Pacific to the serious business of playing professional rugby in Europe.
Wrecking Ball is a wonderfully eccentric and witty book, written with bags of charm. It captures Billy's colourful family and upbringing, and creates a rounded and fascinating portrait of a young man finding his feet as a modern English rugby player.
Review:
I'm going to have to try and contain myself as I write this review, as some people may know I'm a huge fan of the England Rugby team and well Billy Vunipola is one of the members of the team so when I saw he had a book out about his life and his story so far I just had to grab a copy and ahhhh!!! Okay so I've wanted to read the autobiographies of Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter and Paul O'Connell whom are some kick ass players but I never actually got my hands on any copies even though I'd see the covers everywhere but I couldn't not pick up Billy's book and I'm sure ill go an pick up copies of the other autobiographies some time.
So Billy plays number 8 for England and Saracens and if you saw him and his older brother Mako you'd probably have a pre judgement on them by their sheer size Billy is past 6ft tall and nearly 20 stone so already with that information you're probably sizing him up and backing away from the guy, but honestly although he makes big hits and can probably make severe dents in opposing teams defence he's actually a great guy.
This book about his upbringing from the moment his father set foot on English soil all the way to the 2017 British and Irish Lions Tour of which he had to miss due to injury, we watch as Billy grows up facing many challenges and a huge amount of running!
Before I even went into this autobiography I knew a few things about Billy, like he was born in Sydney and as he grew up could have played for either Australia, Wales or England professionally, I knew of some injuries he had sustained through his career and how some other very well known rugby players had grown up with him (which is always such a great thing to see) but this book kind of opened the doors wider, it showed us the Tongan culture and way of life that Billy and Mako grew up in as well as all the other issues like his first real fight, his debut at Wasps and more things alike.
Throughout reading this, I've laughed and cried with Billy, realising so many things about such a great player that I didn't know before, feeling every emotion he must have experience through each of his experiences as a kid. I've never really felt so attached to someone in such a way that I now do with billy because although I don't personally know the man nor have I met him, this book he wrote for fans and other alike really allowed us to see that even though he is a professional rugby player who is in the public eye a lot, he is still human who has had to fight to get to where he is and has struggled but fought tooth and nail for all he has.
Its an emotional read but intriguing and very eye opening, I loved getting to know more about Billy and his upbringing as well as his family and the culture of which he grew up in before coming to England. I can give this read and easy 5/5 without question and recommend it to any fans of Rugby to any degree. Now I'm off to binge buy every other rugby player autobiography I can and then binge read and fangirl for days.
Standing at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing almost 20 stone, Billy is a rampaging and unmissable presence on the rugby pitch, for both club and country.
Wrecking Ball is his captivating story so far, chronicling his remarkable personal odyssey of 10,000 miles, from the tiny Tongan village of Longo Longo to the imposing vastness of Twickenham.
Join Billy on his journey from the year-round sunshine of Tonga to the bitter cold of a British winter, from his favourite Pontypool kebab shop to finding himself eating broccoli for breakfast, and from carefree childhood games in the middle of the Pacific to the serious business of playing professional rugby in Europe.
Wrecking Ball is a wonderfully eccentric and witty book, written with bags of charm. It captures Billy's colourful family and upbringing, and creates a rounded and fascinating portrait of a young man finding his feet as a modern English rugby player.
Review:
I'm going to have to try and contain myself as I write this review, as some people may know I'm a huge fan of the England Rugby team and well Billy Vunipola is one of the members of the team so when I saw he had a book out about his life and his story so far I just had to grab a copy and ahhhh!!! Okay so I've wanted to read the autobiographies of Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter and Paul O'Connell whom are some kick ass players but I never actually got my hands on any copies even though I'd see the covers everywhere but I couldn't not pick up Billy's book and I'm sure ill go an pick up copies of the other autobiographies some time.
So Billy plays number 8 for England and Saracens and if you saw him and his older brother Mako you'd probably have a pre judgement on them by their sheer size Billy is past 6ft tall and nearly 20 stone so already with that information you're probably sizing him up and backing away from the guy, but honestly although he makes big hits and can probably make severe dents in opposing teams defence he's actually a great guy.
This book about his upbringing from the moment his father set foot on English soil all the way to the 2017 British and Irish Lions Tour of which he had to miss due to injury, we watch as Billy grows up facing many challenges and a huge amount of running!
Before I even went into this autobiography I knew a few things about Billy, like he was born in Sydney and as he grew up could have played for either Australia, Wales or England professionally, I knew of some injuries he had sustained through his career and how some other very well known rugby players had grown up with him (which is always such a great thing to see) but this book kind of opened the doors wider, it showed us the Tongan culture and way of life that Billy and Mako grew up in as well as all the other issues like his first real fight, his debut at Wasps and more things alike.
Throughout reading this, I've laughed and cried with Billy, realising so many things about such a great player that I didn't know before, feeling every emotion he must have experience through each of his experiences as a kid. I've never really felt so attached to someone in such a way that I now do with billy because although I don't personally know the man nor have I met him, this book he wrote for fans and other alike really allowed us to see that even though he is a professional rugby player who is in the public eye a lot, he is still human who has had to fight to get to where he is and has struggled but fought tooth and nail for all he has.
Its an emotional read but intriguing and very eye opening, I loved getting to know more about Billy and his upbringing as well as his family and the culture of which he grew up in before coming to England. I can give this read and easy 5/5 without question and recommend it to any fans of Rugby to any degree. Now I'm off to binge buy every other rugby player autobiography I can and then binge read and fangirl for days.
