Bouncing back: Jack Willis returned from his injury nightmare for Wasps in February
(Picture: Getty Images)Jack Willis is desperate to put a year of injury hell behind him by earning a place on England’s summer tour of Australia.
Willis, 25, won the last of his three England caps in February 2021, when he suffered a sickening knee injury – the second of his career – after being the victim of a crocodile roll at the breakdown.
That kept him out for more than a year, but he returned to action with Wasps in February, making 12 appearances before the season ended on Saturday, and joins up with England’s latest mini-camp in Teddington today hoping to earn a place on the Australia tour.
"If I was given that opportunity [to tour Australia], I would take it with both hands,” Willis told Lawrence Dallaglio’s Evening Standard Rugby Podcast.
"I feel like I’ve only just got going, after being out for so long to play only the second half of the season or less than that, I am champing at the bit for more.
“My knee is feeling good. My match fitness is something I’m still chasing, when you’ve been out for that long it doesn’t just come back after a few games.
“If I was lucky enough to be invited on tour I would take it with both hands. I have an opportunity at the mini-camp this week to try to impress. That is as far as I would look into the future now. It’s just taking it as it comes.”
Willis said that Eddie Jones had checked in with him while injured, and that he is still building back to full confidence.
“Coming back from injury, the first couple of weeks I thought, just get through it unscathed, enjoy it,” he said.
“You play the first couple of games and think ‘I am back to business, I’ve got to start to perform’. All the different bits of my game, slowly get my jackal confidence up.”
Yesterday, it was confirmed that Kyle Sinckler, like Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade, would miss the tour of Australia through injury.
