England great: Why the RFU cannot change overseas selection policy despite Jack Willis being ‘twice the player’ he was in the PREM
Toulouse flanker Jack Willis praised by Joe Worsley ahead of Top 14 Final.
Jack Willis is twice the player he was when he played for England but the Rugby Football Union is right not to allow France-based stars to represent the rose.
So says Joe Worsley, legendary English flanker turned French club coach, who this Saturday fronts the broadcast coverage of a Top 14 Final pitting holders Willis’ Toulouse against Billy Vunipola’s Montpellier.
Toulouse and their star flanker are heavy favourites to win a fourth successive Bouclier de Brennus, having annihilated Racing 71-17 to reach the Stade de France showpiece.
Worsley offers three reasons, which we will return to, Montpellier could spring a shock and win their second title in five years in a contest with echoes of the clash of playing styles in last week’s Gallagher PREM Final.
Head says Toulouse
But his head tells him Toulouse are too strong and Reading-born Willis will give English fans yet another reason to lament his ineligibility for national service.
Willis’ progress since joining Les Rouge et Noir has delighted Worsley, who won a World Cup and 78 caps playing for the same Wasps club that developed the now 29-year old before it went bust in 2022.
“Jack’s impact in French rugby has been massive,” says Worsley, who went on to spend 11 years coaching Bordeaux, Castres, Brive and Perpignan before recently returning to the Test arena as defence coach of Georgia.
“He is really appreciated for two reasons. One, because he’s an incredible player. Two, because of his heart and how he carries himself. They love his personal values.
“They love the fact he’s adapted to truly become a Toulouse player. I’ve talked to him about it, how he’s doing things he would never have done if he was playing at Wasps.
“For example, as soon as he arrived in Toulouse and started training he realised he was going to have to improve his ability to offload, his ability to read it and his ability to read other players doing it.
“Some of the plays he made in the semi-final against Racing were amazing. If he comes back into the England fold, he’s going to be twice the player he was.”
Given England are coming off their worst ever Six Nations, losing four in a row for the first time since 1976, you might expect Worsley to advocate for the drawbridge to come down to enable Willis, and his Bordeaux-bound brother Tom, to return to colours.
But he argues: “There are not enough English players out in France who could seriously play for England to change the rule.
“If I put myself in the shoes of the England head coach and what problems changing the policy would cause me: it would be… inability to control how many games my players are playing.
“Not having them for training as much as I could do; seeing them travelling back to France in the down weeks of the Six Nations; not having them together for the same number of weeks of preparation as the boys in the Prem.
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“This would cause big problems for any team. It’s a handicap. For the French team they’ve negotiated a deal, but still the players have a long season and, sometimes, the French team struggles because of that.
“Whereas all these other nations, everything’s geared up around the international team. Everything else is secondary.
“In future, I do think there could be enough top English players in the Top 14 to warrant the RFU changing the rule, if the Top 14 carries on the same trajectory and the PREM doesn’t accelerate its development.
“But for now, probably not.”
The existing policy is preventing a trickle from becoming a flood. Courtney Lawes, Joe Marchant, Dan Robson and Mako Vunipola are following Henry Arundell and Owen Farrell back to the Prem.
Vunipola, Zach Mercer, Sam and Joe Simmonds, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuilagi and Kyle Sinckler are staying put, having calculated that Test selection is unlikely.
Probably only the Willis brothers, along with Junior Kpoku and David Ribbans, are England-quality players at the peak of their powers willingly sacrificing Test-playing opportunities.
Worsley understands better than most the lure of France with its intoxicating mix of rugby and culture. When he moved back to the UK and realised nobody was watching the Top 14, he chose to do something about it.
“It’s not like English rugby here, it’s radically different,” he says. “I wanted to create a Gazzetta Football Italia-style show: live game with some cultural elements built around it.”
Teaming up with Tim Cocker, the pair created a YouTube account FR-UK, which initially won the rights to show the second tier Pro D2 and has since moved on to the Top 14 and Saturday’s showpiece collaboration with Premier Sports.
For last week’s PREM final, pitting Northampton’s buccaneering play against Exeter’s physicality and cast-iron defence, read free-scoring, off-loading Toulouse against obstinate, structured Montpellier.
“Montpellier have been my dark horses all year,” says Worsley. “They were too highly structured last year, a little bit predictable and unable to score. The big advance they’ve made is in their ability to accelerate the play.
“They have amazing ball carriers and if they get go-forward they’ll play. They’ll adapt and go for it.
Vunipola praise
“Billy has been amazing for them. He had been at Saracens for so long. It’s hard to stay lit up, excited and developing. Coming to France has revitalised him.
“Still, for them to win it’s going to require three things.”
Worsley explains: “Their kicking pressure game and the structures they use for that to be executed so well must hold Toulouse in the right parts of the pitch. Not only hold them there, but then dominate the collisions and force turnovers.
“They’ve got to have a scrum and line-out that’s dominant enough to strip Toulouse of possession, create opportunities and give them points and territory. And when the opportunities come, either through turnover, dropped or bouncing balls, they have to capitalise.
“In 30-degree plus heat, one thing we know is the ball is going to be slippy. That’s a bonus for Montpellier as it’s hard to offload with a massively sweaty ball.
“Still, that’s a lot of things that need to go perfectly!
“Toulouse are capable of ripping you open at will, scoring three tries in a heartbeat. You must be on them, physically, every second of the game. You have to stay in the fight.”
Premier Sports and FR-UK are teaming up to deliver enhanced coverage of this Saturday’s Top 14 Final bringing UK and Irish rugby fans closer than ever to French rugby’s showpiece occasion with dedicated pre-match, half-time and post-match programming. The Top 14 live show live on Premier Sports 1 from 7.30pm and on FR-UK’s YouTube channel, will be fronted by FR-UK co-founder Tim Cocker and former England international and Top 14 coach Joe Worsley, with special rugby guests joining the programme on Saturday. To join in visit www.premiersports.com @PremSportsTV @FRUKRugby.
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