England and Saracens star No.8 Billy Vunipola has attributed his reluctance to kneel as part of the English Premiership’s anti-racism protest to his Christian Faith.
Before a recent clash between Saracens and Bristol, Mr Vunipola stood, while the majority of his team-mates took a knee.
Explaining his decision on The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby podcast, Mr Vunipola said: “Though I am a person of colour, I’m still more a person of Jesus.
“What I saw in terms of that movement was not aligned with what I believe in,” he added.
This is not the only occasion that has brought Mr Vunipola’s Faith into the spotlight – he has waded into the public arena on social media, too.
The England forward received a severe backlash for a social media post he wrote in defence of Australian rugby star Israel Folau who has been widely criticised for referring to homosexuality activity as a sin.
Asked on the podcast whether he regretted the post or the positions he supported, he replied: “I wouldn’t go about it the same way, it would be more of a conversation from my point of view…if it happened again now and they said, ‘Billy do you stand in support of it?’ I would have to say ‘yes’, because I’ve made my position clear.”
He continued by saying: “To have forgiveness or to go to Heaven, or to not go to Hell – the centre of it all is believing in Jesus Christ and essentially that’s what I wanted to get across.”
Mr Vunipola’s Faith has a firm foundation. Having come from a religious family, it wasn’t until he felt life’s stresses that he started to take God seriously himself.
“The older I’ve got and the more responsibilities, like your house, your wife, your kids – you find that the only person that can help you carry those burdens or ease those stresses in life is God,” he told Premier Radio.