Billy Searle explains ‘chats’ with England and recalls how decision not to ‘devalue myself’ paid off during ‘nuts’ period in his career
Leicester out-half Billy Searle has revealed the chats he has had with Steve Borthwick's England (INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/EJ Langner and DPPI Media)
Leicester fly-half Billy Searle has revealed the recent conversations he has had with England, explaining that he is on their radar ahead of this summer’s start to the new Nations Championship.
The 30-year-old is currently in the form of his life after joining Tigers last summer following a lengthy spell in France after the sudden collapse of Worcester.
Searle was the starting fly-half for England A in their demolition of an Ireland XV in Limerick in February, and his displays for the title-chasing Leicester have marked him out as a potential England call-up.
It’s said that Steve Borthwick will likely work with an extended squad due to the way the fixtures fall for his team in July. They start their schedule with a trip to South Africa and finish with a visit to Argentina, but in between they have an ‘away’ match against Fiji in Liverpool.
“I’m on the radar…”
Rather than have his leading players fly to the southern hemisphere, come back to England and then fly out again to the southern hemisphere, there is every chance that Borthwick will work with a less familiar XV for the Fijian assignment – and that could well get the ambitious Searle into the Test mix.
Appearing on FR-UK Rugby, Searle revealed the level of contact he has been having with England amid speculation that he could be the next cab off the rank with Borthwick looking to add depth after a troubled fifth-place finish in the Six Nations.
“I have had a few chats,” explained Searle. “I obviously played the England A game and had a bit of chat with Steve there; he came in one day in the training week and we had a brief chat, just saying well done for the season and going really well.
“I spoke to Lee Blackett a bit since. He has been in a bit and we have good chats. I know I am sort of there, I’m on the radar and it’s just about trying to perform well here and finish the season on a real high with Leicester and then put myself in the best position to hopefully potentially get a call up.
“If it comes, it comes, and if it doesn’t, then I know I am in a good spot personally and I can just keep focusing on playing well for Leicester.
“It was a tough campaign, the Six Nations, but sometimes a couple of results go against you and it can be heightened a little bit. Before that, they were on a really good winning streak.
“It’s tough for them, but the last game (against France) showed what they can do when they get the ball moving. That excites me to potentially get involved. The way they were attacking the game was awesome and they played really well.
“There were a couple of losses, but they don’t need to be too down about it. It’s just about building now and getting into the summer.”
Searle hopes he will reach the summer via a PREM Rugby final appearance with Leicester. Geoff Parling’s side are in third place with five rounds of matches left before the play-offs and the fly-half is enjoying playing for the club. “We are looking to move the ball, and it suits my game down to a tee. I want to move the ball; I want to play.
“That’s what’s been coached to us and as a 10, you get a lot of touches and it goes through you so the more I can get on the ball and show my super strength of trying to get in the line and use my passing ability, running ability and also if I need to control it with my game management and my kicking game.
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“I feel like my all-round game, my decision-making has been one of my strengths and I am trying to do that as much as I can. You are always going to make mistakes as 10s because you have a lot of involvements, but it’s how you flush that.
“Throughout my career, I have gotten a lot better at that. You flush the mistake and move on to the next thing. Do the basics well initially but also show your X-factor and your capabilities to help the team. We’re moving the ball well.
Our wingers are getting a lot of tries and back three is lightning, so it suits me as well to get the ball to those boys.”
Leicester’s latest win bears out Searle’s perspective. Of the 10 tries scored against Newcastle in last Saturday’s 62-3 win, seven came from the wingers. He went on to explain why rugby has become a more attack-minded game in recent years.
“The big change was when they sorted that escort rule,” he vouched. “There are a lot more people competing for box kicks, so you get a lot more ball back, unstructured attack.
“We have seen lots of tries come off that unstructured attack, like the first two, three phases off a kick, and a lot of tries off putting the ball in behind teams when they are not structured and are on the back foot. So that rule change had an effect.
“And teams are just moving the ball now, playing an attacking brand of rugby and it’s exciting for me, I like to play that sort of game and we’re doing that at Leicester now, we’re moving the ball a lot more.
“You see a lot more teams going for the corner as well, that’s just teams backing themselves more, going for the corner, going for the try. That’s the new way now and you have just got to get with the times. You can’t sit too far behind or else you are going to be left behind.”
Having started at Launceston and Plymouth, Searle made the breakthrough to the pro ranks at Bristol and Wasps before switching to Worcester, whose closure in 2022 left his future in the game uncertain.
There was a brief spell as injury cover at Bath but rather than take up some contract offers down the ranks, he trained without a club for six months before a call arrived from Toulouse.
Stints at Biarritz and Agen followed this before Leicester snapped him up last summer. “It has been a weird journey but a lot has been forced, like Worcester going bust. I was only at Bath for two months; I don’t really count that. I went there as injury cover,” he said.
“There were always rumours about it [Worcester closing] and we came in on a Monday and it was like, ‘Don’t come in tomorrow, the club will be shut’. It was, ‘Oh, it’s actually happening’ because you didn’t think it was going to happen.
“It was nuts. No one really knew what to do, so it was a bit of a weird couple of weeks and then reality hits you. I got lucky, I went to Bath quite quickly for injury cover and after that I had sort of a six-month period where I didn’t have a team because I didn’t want to drop down.
“In England then the money was tough after covid. Most teams were at their salary cap unless there was an injury. I had a few offers. I could have gone to America, I could have gone to the Champ, but I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to devalue myself.
“I just backed my ability and my quality. So, I sort of rented my house out in Worcester, I went back home and then Toulouse were interested. It worked out well. I was lucky, it was fate, I guess. There was six months where I didn’t play, but I kept myself really fit.”
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