{"id":659806,"date":"2026-06-26T18:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659806\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:39:11","slug":"jack-willis-is-twice-the-player-he-was-in-england-but-rfu-shouldnt-change-selection-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659806\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Willis is ‘twice the player’ he was in England but RFU shouldn’t change selection policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 Toulouse against Billy Vunipola\u2019s Montpellier.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Gallagher PREM Final.<\/p>\n

Head says Toulouse<\/p>\n

But his head tells him Toulouse are too strong and Reading-born Willis<\/a> will give English fans yet another reason to lament his ineligibility for national service.<\/p>\n

Willis\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack\u2019s impact in French rugby has been massive,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is really appreciated for two reasons. One, because he\u2019s an incredible player. Two, because of his heart and how he carries himself. They love his personal values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love the fact he\u2019s adapted to truly become a Toulouse player. I\u2019ve talked to him about it, how he\u2019s doing things he would never have done if he was playing at Wasps.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, as soon as he arrived in Toulouse<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the plays he made in the semi-final against Racing were amazing. If he comes back into the England fold, he\u2019s going to be twice the player he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top 14 Final prediction: Toulouse \u2018firepower\u2019 to blow Montpellier away as 25th Bouclier de Brennus awaits<\/a><\/p>\n

Given England<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

But he argues: \u201cThere are not enough English players out in France who could seriously play for England to change the rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I put myself in the shoes of the England head coach and what problems changing the policy would cause me: it would be\u2026 inability to control how many games my players are playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot 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.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would cause big problems for any team. It\u2019s a handicap. For the French team they\u2019ve negotiated a deal, but still the players have a long season and, sometimes, the French team struggles because of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas all these other nations, everything\u2019s geared up around the international team. Everything else is secondary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn future, I do think there could be enough top English players in the Top 14<\/a> to warrant the RFU changing the rule, if the Top 14 carries on the same trajectory and the PREM doesn\u2019t accelerate its development.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for now, probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s July Tests: Squad, fixtures, global kick-off times, referees and where to watch the Nations Championship<\/a><\/p>\n

Vunipola, Zach Mercer, Sam and Joe Simmonds, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuilagi and Kyle Sinckler are staying put, having calculated that Test selection is unlikely.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like English rugby here, it\u2019s radically different,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to create a Gazzetta Football Italia-style show: live game with some cultural elements built around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s showpiece collaboration with Premier Sports.<\/p>\n

For last week\u2019s PREM final, pitting Northampton\u2019s buccaneering play against Exeter\u2019s physicality and cast-iron defence, read free-scoring, off-loading Toulouse against obstinate, structured Montpellier.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontpellier have been my dark horses all year,\u201d says Worsley. \u201cThey were too highly structured last year, a little bit predictable and unable to score. The big advance they\u2019ve made is in their ability to accelerate the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have amazing ball carriers and if they get go-forward they\u2019ll play. They\u2019ll adapt and go for it.<\/p>\n

Vunipola praise<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly has been amazing for them. He had been at Saracens for so long. It\u2019s hard to stay lit up, excited and developing. Coming to France has revitalised him.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, for them to win it\u2019s going to require three things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worsley explains: \u201cTheir 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got to have a scrum and line-out that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 30-degree plus heat, one thing we know is the ball is going to be slippy. That\u2019s a bonus for Montpellier as it\u2019s hard to offload with a massively sweaty ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, that\u2019s a lot of things that need to go perfectly!<\/p>\n

\u201cToulouse 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premier Sports and FR-UK are teaming up to deliver enhanced coverage of this Saturday\u2019s Top 14 Final bringing UK and Irish rugby fans closer than ever to French rugby\u2019s 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\u2019s 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<\/a> @PremSportsTV @FRUKRugby.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Latest World Rugby rankings: Springboks lead the way ahead of Nations Championship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Willis is twice the player he was when he played for England but the Rugby Football Union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[309,819,348,3482,183517,50,5903,101,18093,52175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-659806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england","tag-france","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-jack-willis","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-top-14","tag-toulouse","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}