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Wrecking Ball

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Wrecking Ball

By: Billy Vunipola
Narrated by: Nathan Turner
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About this listen

Voted Rugby Book of the Year at the 2018 Sports Book Awards.

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.

©2017 Billy Vunipola (P)2017 Headline Audiobooks Rugby Sports Celebrity Witty Comedy

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All stars
Most relevant  
I've never read / listened to a book about rugby before but the excitement ahead of the 6 nations led me to picking this up and learning more about one of England's key players. Really well read and a very honest portrait of one of the best players around at the moment. Funny and lighthearted even when dealing with some of the more sensitive issues although the story does hop about quite a bit and lacks a bit of structure.

Would recommend.

Very funny and an eye opener

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Not amazingly funny just a story of his life and his childhood is half the book

Alright

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Billy Vunipola is a great sportsman, and this audio book brought a new element into his life, from growing up in a small village, to his current place as a premier player in the rugby world.
I struggled with the narrator though - just didn't seem to fit with the man (if that makes sense) and for me this did detract from the story a little.
Nevertheless, a great listen, and well worth the time.

Great story - didn't like the narrator

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Good stories from one of England's rugby stars full of entertaining views on Tongan/English culture.

Good Listen for a Rugby Fan

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fascinating but the long chapters made it feel a bit overwhelming sometimes. just had to stop on occasion and accept that it'd need to rewind a bit to get my bearings

Fascinating but...

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This is one of the best books I’ve listened to and has really helped me as currently going through some injury’s...

Brilliant

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it was a great book and I encourage people to listen to and read this book

billy vunipola wrecking ball

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I enjoyed listening to Billy’s story. It was extremely interesting listening and learning of his heritage. Loved to hear about the Tongan history and upbringing. Walking through peoples houses to cut the distance down made me chuckle. Some of the book was repetitive and a bit frustrating . I understood how the story was trying to be told, however I very nearly switched off. Perhaps this was to do with the narrator and not billy. Enjoyed it, however people with less patience may not.

Wrecking ball

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For rugby and Billy fans everywhere; much funnier than I thought it would be, some very serious and sad moments but on the whole very enjoyable understanding of his life growing up across 3 countries and a great job by the narrator.

Only negatives for me are it’s very much centred on a mans school life rather than the here and now, but also the storyline switches between time periods so much I feel it was hastily written while Billy was injured and away from the Lions tour.

Billy commenting in the press on Sean O’Brien’s comments about tour coaches when he wasn’t even there, but on book release date also didn’t sit well.

Very funny, but a bit all over the place

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Funny book with loads of funny and crazy story stories about his time growing up in the UK as a poor kid from Tonga who loved rugby. It’s a great autobiography telling you all the obstacles Billy had to overcome to be the man he is today. I would recommend this book to any rugby fan around the world.

Great if you’re a rugby fan like me

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