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Some fans feel Jack Willis' supremacy at the Premiership breakdown has him primed for England call

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones’ job to whittle down all his England back row options to five or six players next month is not an enviable puzzle, all the more so now that uncapped Jack Willis is putting his hand up for inclusion with his form at Wasps.

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It’s no exaggeration to say that the Australian could field four completely different trios at the back of the scrum, all of which would be Test standard – such is the level of competition across the Gallagher Premiership at the moment. 

One player, however, who seems to be leading the charge for his first Test cap ahead of an extraordinarily competitive field is Willis. 

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England forward Courtney Lawes guests on All Access, the RugbyPass interview series hosted by Jim Hamilton

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England forward Courtney Lawes guests on All Access, the RugbyPass interview series hosted by Jim Hamilton

In an inspired season so far, which has seen Wasps steadily climb up the table, the performance of the 23-year-old Willis against Bath on Monday put him in a position whereby many feel it is almost impossible for Jones not to pick him for the upcoming internationals in October, November and December. 

Not only that, but there is also talk on social media of the flanker even making the British and Irish Lions squad in 2021. 

https://twitter.com/johnnywasp/status/1300492113981984769?s=20

https://twitter.com/SameOldBrookesy/status/1300475392344682498?s=20

As stated, Willis faces stern competition in what is now England’s most abundant area of choice on the field. Jones and his selection team are ultimately going to disappoint a number of worthy players in the coming weeks by overlooking them. 

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Although there is plenty of hysteria over the Wasps player’s performance at The Rec, both Curry twins at Sale Sharks are equally in insatiable form as are those in the No8 shirt as well. 

What will perhaps please Jones the most is that so many players bring different qualities, and it is currently Willis’ supremacy at the breakdown that nearly leaves him with rival amongst his compatriots. 

If he were to be selected, this would not be the first time that Willis has been called up to the England squad as he was set to travel to South Africa in the summer of 2018 before a cataclysmic knee injury delayed the upwards trajectory of his career. 

Since then, he has seen a handful of players break onto the scene in the back row for England, but he is showing the form necessary to warrant a call-up again.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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