{"id":223471,"date":"2025-10-18T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/223471\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:57:10","slug":"tom-willis-england-career-over-for-now-as-saracens-confirm-shock-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/223471\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Willis’ England career over for now as Saracens confirm shock exit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saracens<\/a> have announced that England<\/a> No.8 Tom Willis<\/a> will leave the club at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The club made the announcement just minutes after the 26-year-old starred in their 65-14 demolition of Sale Sharks<\/a> in the Gallagher PREM.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph<\/a> are reporting that the eight-cap England international will rejoin Bordeaux-Begles in the Top 14, whom he represented before moving to London.<\/p>\n

\"VideoRetired again Nic White on the best players he\u2019s played with | RPTV <\/p>\n

Freshly retired Wallaby legend Nic White joins the KOKO show to discuss retirement, what\u2019s next, and the game\u2019s best players. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV now<\/p>\n

Watch Now<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoRetired again Nic White on the best players he\u2019s played with | RPTV <\/p>\n

Freshly retired Wallaby legend Nic White joins the KOKO show to discuss retirement, what\u2019s next, and the game\u2019s best players. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV now<\/p>\n

This is a hammerblow to England head coach Steve Borthwick. Following a standout summer against Argentina, Willis was widely expected to hold the white No.8 jersey this November.<\/p>\n

This move will instead end his England career temporarily, as he joins his brother, Jack, in exile.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

England <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Australia <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Willis contract was due to expire at the end of the season, and he was believed to have many suitors both in England and abroad. But given his form in 2025, this decision to suspend his international career and forgo a chance to play at the 2027 World Cup will surprise many.<\/p>\n

While he will remain eligible for England selection for the rest of the season, Borthwick will surely now look to the future with his preliminary squad named on Sunday.<\/p>\n

A statement reads: \u201cSaracens can today confirm that Tom Willis<\/a> will leave the club at the end of the season to pursue an opportunity in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number eight has taken the Gallagher PREM by storm since moving to the Original Club of North London in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis relentless and energetic performances have seen him wear the Black and Red shirt on 43 occasions, and his form last year saw him named in the PREM Dream Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 26-year-old has also become an England regular during his time at Saracens, with eight caps to his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director of rugby Mark McCall said: \u201cWhilst we are disappointed that Tom will not be extending his time at the club, we fully respect his decision to pursue a new challenge in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has made a great impact on the field and been a popular team-mate off it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he is determined to give everything to the group over the coming months. Everyone at Saracens thank Tom for all his efforts in a Saracens jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willis added: \u201cI\u2019ve absolutely loved my time at Saracens and have made some friends for life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of the hardest decisions of my life but it\u2019s one that feels right for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to give everything for this club for the remainder of the season and I\u2019m very excited about what this squad can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saracens have announced that England No.8 Tom Willis will leave the club at the end of the season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-223471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}