Mako Vunipola found England’s 2016 Six Nations Grand Slam an informative experience and believes the lessons he learned can help Saracens to glory this month.

Prop Vunipola played a part in all five of England’s games as they completed the Grand Slam for the first time since 2003 to start the Eddie Jones era with a bang.

Back on the domestic scenes, Saracens finished top of the Aviva Premiership regular-season table but the job is far from done with victory over Leicester Tigers needed in their semi-final before they can even think about retaining their title at Twickenham on May 28.

But Vunipola is full of confidence that he and his teammates can use England’s success to their advantage.

“I think for us as players coming back from the Six Nations we wanted to just take that learning and apply it to Saracens and help the whole team,” said the 25-year-old, who was speaking at the launch of the second National Rugby Awards.

“We want to keep doing that day by day and hopefully be involved in some finals. I think it is the experience we have now.

“We've had some tough losses, two years ago especially, I think the team that played that day and of that squad a lot of them are still here and that experience will put us in good stead.

“I think more than anything the biggest thing that I learnt was that nobody is going to give you anything for free.

“You can go as well as you can or as well as you want for the whole season but it comes down to the last few games so we know that on the day you have to be ready or any team can take you on.”

Vunipola may ply his trade at the very highest end of the game but the National Rugby Awards celebrate the great work done up and down the UK at grassroots level.

Harlequins and England star Chris Robshaw is an ambassador for the Awards, which are in their second year, – and Vunipola claims that honouring the hard-working people at every level is a fantastic idea.

“It is massive thing to have as it is important to emphasise the good work that the grassroots do,” added Vunipola. “You can't forget the sacrifice people put into their clubs.

“For myself, at my first club in Bristol there were a lot of people behind the scenes that did a lot of good work and so to have an Awards to show how important so many people are to the game is fantastic.”

The National Rugby Awards honour the achievements of rugby clubs across the country, acknowledging their dedication and commitment to rugby. To enter please visit nationalrugbyawards.co.uk by Sunday June 5, 2016.