Billy Vunipola was tasered twice by police officers while being arrested at a bar in Majorca.
The incident took place in a bar called Epic in Palma, with Vunipola taking off his shirt and threatening customers and employees with bottles and chairs, according to local reports.
Vunipola, who is 6ft 2in and weighs more than 20 stone, required a second taser volt in order to be handcuffed by police officers at around 4.30am on Sunday morning, before later being taken to nearby Son Espases Hospital where he was reportedly sedated and bound to his bed.
Video footage later showed Vunipola, dressed in a navy shirt and beige shorts, being led from a police van into a local station surrounded by four officers. It is understood that he has since been released on bail pending an investigation. Police and court officials are yet to make an official comment but a statement is expected on Monday.
Vunipola was a replacement for Saracens in their win over Bath on Friday night, before heading off on holiday, given that the club are not part of this coming weekend’s European semi-finals.
Vunipola, who was born in Australia to Tongan parents, moved to Wales when he was a child and won a scholarship to Harrow School. He started his professional career with Wasps before moving to Saracens. The last of his 75 caps for England was in the Rugby World Cup semi-final defeat to South Africa last year, but he was not selected for Steve Borthwick’s squad for this year’s Six Nations.
Vunipola is widely expected to leave Saracens for Montpellier next season. That move will effectively end any hopes of an international recall, because England players based overseas are ineligible for the national team.
While it is unclear whether Vunipola was intoxicated at the bar, which remains open until 5am each day, the 31-year-old has spoken openly about his relationship with alcohol in the past.
In a podcast episode with former Saracens team-mate Jim Hamilton last year, Vunipola revealed that he first started drinking at the age of 25 following his first knee operation.
“I went from not drinking my whole life to getting my first serious injury… and thinking I’m gonna start drinking. Just before that I broke up with my now wife and I don’t know, I was just going through a weird phase of just wanting to be that 20-year-old who never got to be a 20-year-old. It sounds silly, but I never did that.
“Fresh out of school I was playing for Wasps, on the brink of getting relegated. Even at 17, I played my first game in the Prem, so I never got to just be a kid. It sounds ungrateful but I did it at 25 in the middle of my career. It’s no coincidence that all my injuries happened when I went on a bender essentially for 10 months before I went crawling back to my wife.”
Vunipola apologised to England team-mates during the 2019 Six Nations after returning late to the team’s hotel following an alcohol-fuelled night out with former England centre Ben Te’o.
That incident came shortly after Vunipola told The Times in November 2018 that he had stopped drinking following a serious conversation during the summer with his family, including his brother, Mako, the Saracens and England prop.
“I had a lecture off my mum and dad, and my brother, and I finally listened to them. I’ve stopped drinking.”
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