England expected to name Jack Willis in squad for autumn campaign

Wasps turnover king Jack Willis is expected to be rewarded for sensational form with a call-up to England’s autumn squad on Monday.

The 23-year-old won an astonishing 46 turnovers this season, including two in the Premiership final defeat to Exeter on Saturday. His tally is 27 more than any other player managed this season and by far the most since Opta began tracking turnovers, leading to Willis winning a clean sweep of English rugby’s individual playing honours. He was crowned RPA’s player’s player award, the Premiership’s Player of the Season and Land Rover “Discovery of the Season”.

England head coach Eddie Jones previously called up Willis for the 2018 tour to South Africa only for the flanker to suffer a serious knee injury in the Premiership semi-final against Saracens which cost him nearly 18 months on the sidelines. Now Willis is set to return to the fold alongside Wasps teammates Joe Launchbury and Dan Robson, who was set to start his first England match against Scotland in 2019 before withdrawing with an illness that was late diagnosed as deep vein thrombosis. The scrum-half was then overlooked for the World Cup squad in favour of Gloucester’s Willi Heinz but has rebounded from that disappointment in resilient fashion. Along with Willis, he was a key reason behind Wasps’ march to the Premiership final.

There was a strong suggestion that Jones was prepared to also name Wasps’ hooker-cum-back-row hybrid Alfie Barbeary, who has exploded on to the scene this season. However, the 20-year-old was among four Wasps players, including flanker Brad Shields, who are self-isolating because of possible Covid-19 exposure.

Jones will name a squad of around 35 players for the Six Nations finale against Italy on Saturday and the Autumn Nations Cup in which England will face Wales, Ireland and Georgia in Group A. Ireland’s 50-17 defeat of Italy on Saturday means they would win the Six Nations if they beat France with a bonus-point. However England are primed to capitalise on any slip-ups with a handsome win in Rome, although their preparations were disrupted by the cancellation of their match against the Barbarians.

Over the weekend, film footage emerged of a group of Barbarians players, including former England captain Chris Robshaw, drinking in a central London pub in a second breach of the Barbarians’ Covid bubble which led to the match being called off. The Metropolitan Police are on Monday expected to announce whether the players face any charges for breaching London’s Tier-2 coronavirus restrictions, although retrospective action is unlikely.

The cancellation denied Jones an opportunity to fine-tune his selections. Saracens uncapped wing Ali Crossdale was poised to start while Worcester centre Ollie Lawrence was also set to feature. It has also left the RFU counting the significant financial cost of being unable to stage a first home match since March. An RFU investigation is ongoing.

The most interesting selection dynamic will be in how many of Exeter Chiefs’ double-winning side Jones includes. Director of rugby Rob Baxter has previously stated that there are six Chiefs inside England’s Elite Player Squad, however one of those, wing Jack Nowell, has now being ruled out as he undergoes surgery on a toe injury.

Club form would dictate that lock Jonny Hill, No 8 Sam Simmonds, the European Player of the Season, and fly-half and captain Joe Simmonds should be included, but Jones has never put much store in domestic performances. Exeter flanker Don Armand, for example, has never taken Jones’ fancy despite being a key cog in the Chiefs’ machine. Centre Ollie Devoto, tighthead prop Harry Williams and loosehead Alec Hepburn could also come into the reckoning.