Jack Willis has not given up hope of staying in Toulouse and continuing to represent England after the World Cup.
The 26-year-old is close to finalising his club status for next season, and is expected to stay put in France with the decorated Toulouse outfit.
Willis impressed in England’s Six Nations campaign, forcing his way to the front of new head coach Steve Borthwick’s back-row selection plans. The former Wasps flanker currently has special dispensation to feature for England while abroad, but that short-term agreement expires after the World Cup.
England’s policy of refusing to select overseas-based players save for exceptional circumstances has however come under renewed pressure following a raft of departures to French clubs.
Head coach Borthwick has even admitted he wants to be able to select his top players without restriction, and the RFU will continue to examine ways forward on an increasingly thorny issue.
Willis hopes England can find a way around the problem, and hailed the Red Rose staff for building a relationship with Toulouse that allowed him to feature regularly in the Six Nations.
“I think Steve Borthwick coming out and supporting that just shows that there are lots of people behind the scenes that are working to try to find the right solution for English rugby moving forwards,” Willis told the Evening Standard Rugby Podcast.
“I think there are lots of avenues to explore, but the positive thing for me is that it seems that hopefully that’s on the table, and at least being discussed, and we’ll see.
“Steve’s been fantastic throughout this Six Nations with me on many levels, the support and work with Toulouse. Toulouse have been brilliant as well and showed how smooth that process can be.
“There’s been lots of conversations back and forth about what would be best for me, about what would be best for me being involved with England, how can we help with Toulouse if they needed me for the weekend.
“It’s been great to see how that relationship’s worked, and I’m grateful for the guys at Toulouse, and Steve and Richard Hill for how hard they’ve worked to make that smooth for me.”
England and Exeter stars Luke Cowan Dickie, Sam Simmonds and Harry Williams are moving to Montpellier next season, which currently would curtail their Test involvement after the World Cup.
Harlequins centre Joe Marchant is heading to Stade Francais, while Northampton’s Test lock David Ribbans will join Toulon.
Willis has his plans in place, and just wants to tick a few final boxes before ratifying fully what should be a new deal to stay put in Toulouse. He was forced to find a club when Wasps went under in September, and he believes English club rugby’s precarious financial situation should lead to a relaxing of those overseas selection rules.
“I have made up my mind, I need to get the last couple of things finalised over the next couple of weeks, and make sure that all my family are on board,” said Willis.
“Wherever we do end up you want to make sure you’ve considered every factor possible. There’s still a little bit of thinking to do, but we’re nearly there. I’ve absolutely loved my time here and Toulouse have been so welcoming.”
Asked if he hopes England’s eligibility rule will change, Willis continued: “Yes, and I think the reason I’d say that is it’s not just for myself.
“You look at the salary cap, where it’s heading, where it has been heading, how tight it is and how many players have been squeezed out of jobs. You then look at Wasps and Worcester, they didn’t have financially stable models.
“I think something that’s a factor for me is the financial stability of that club, because I can’t tell you how difficult it was going through what we went through. We were training about three hours before we first got told we were going into administration.
“We came in on the Monday and some stranger’s telling you you’ve lost your job and you won’t be playing together again, not even for another minute, with some of your best mates that you’ve grown up with, and with my brother. That leaves a scar.”
Willis’ brother Tom secured a switch to Bordeaux after Wasps’ implosion, and the 24-year-old No 8 will join Saracens next summer. The Willis siblings miss their daily catch-ups, but Jack revealed he has called in Tom’s help when moving house in France later this week.
“It’s been strange, Tom and I used to spend a lot of time together, every day at the club, but he’d be popping into mine for a cup of tea every day after training,” said Willis.
“To go from that to being two-and-a-half hours apart, it’s very strange. But we see each other regularly. I’ve got him down on Wednesday to help me move house, and I’ll load him up with all the heavy stuff!
“I’ve really missed him, and that’s been one of the most difficult things in the Wasps scenario.
“I’m incredibly excited about what the future holds for him at Saracens. I know the Saracens guys in the England set-up and they’ll be very good at pushing him to be the best player he can be.”
