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'I don't think Steve Borthwick would pick Jack Willis even if he's playing in England'
By Josh Raisey
England’s results over the past month have left many wondering whether the narrow losses would have turned into wins with the addition of their overseas players.
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Owen Farrell, Jack Willis and Kyle Sinckler are just three players that may have been able to boost England’s fortunes, but are ineligible to do so currently while playing in the Top 14.
But former England scrum-half Danny Care is not convinced that the French-based players would improve Steve Borthwick’s side, and has asserted that Toulouse’s domestic and European double winner Willis would not even be selected as he does not think he’s the England head coach’s “type of player”.
Care is a staunch believer that England should only pick players who are playing in the Gallagher Premiership, and while he thinks they could “learn from different environments,” he’s not entirely certain the current crop overseas would boost the national side.
The 101-cap Englishman discussed whether England would be a better team if they picked overseas players with his former Harlequins and England team-mate Mike Brown on the ‘Debatable’ segment of his Hits Different podcast.
“It’s an interesting debate,” the 37-year-old said. “I just always sit on the side of the fence that if you want to play for England, there are enough clubs over here that you can play.
“Right now, currently, I wouldn’t have any of the players that are playing outside England in the England squad.
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“I think people could learn from different environments; playing abroad I think has done wonders for South Africa, they’ve opened the doors up. I just think that the coaches we have at the Premiership clubs – we’ve still got 10 Premiership clubs – there should be good enough coaches and good enough coaching to get the best out of England players playing in England, having more access to them.
“I do feel that it could help them – you look at Blair Kinghorn for Scotland playing for Toulouse, brilliant. I don’t Steve Borthwick would pick Jack Willis even if he was playing in England, I don’t think he’s his type of player.
“If they opened the doors and said ‘go and play anywhere you want,’ my problem with that would be everyone would leave and then the Premiership needs superstars.
“I think the Premiership’s standard, as a whole, is down to what it used to be. I think the foreign superstars, they’ve headed back – the [Semi] Radradras, the [Charles] Piutaus, the [Andre] Esterhuizens – there’s not that many of them that are coming over here anymore. I think if you let the English lads go as well, then the Premiership’s standard’s going to go way down. Japan would be flooded with them.”
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While Brown leaned towards agreeing with Care that the RFU’s current overseas policy should be upheld in order to avoid damaging the quality of the Premiership, he maintains that England would be boosted by their Top 14 contingent.
“If we’re talking about performance, as in they are potentially going to win more games, they’ll have a bigger pool of players and some of those players that are over there can add to the squad which potentially might affect their performance in a positive way,” the Leicester Tigers full-back said.
“I don’t agree with them dropping the rule or not, I’m just solely looking at a performance side or not.
“I’m thinking of Sink [Kyle Sinckler]. He could definitely add to the squad. I wouldn’t say in his position they’ve got an embarrassment of riches at the moment. There are other players as well. Faz [Owen Farrell] would add if he could do both.
“I’m not saying the rule is right or wrong, but if they allowed it, it could potentially make it better in terms of performance.”
Go behind the scenes of both camps during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021. Binge watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV now
Willis
Underhill
Earl
As good as any backrow on the planet.
In terms of player quality, that is a phenomenal backrow. In terms of balance, not so much. Lacks a heavyweight ball carrier and a lineout option. I'm sure they'd still cause havoc though.