Willis stakes his claim for England honours

WASPS turnover king Jack Willis says he is doing everything in his power to enter the conversation around England selection for July’s tour of Japan.

- NEALE HARVEY

Cruelly denied a trip to South Africa in 2018 by an ACL injury, barnstorming back rower Willis, 23, is back to his best – and proving it with a season high tally of 28 turnovers in just 11 Premiership games, 13 ahead of his nearest rival, Blair Cowan (15).

Willis’ carrying and work-rate has been off the scale, too, meaning he is certain to be on the radar of Red Rose boss Eddie Jones, with World Cup flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill likely to be stood down this summer on player welfare grounds.

Willis, an influential presence during Wasps’ recent resurgence, said: “My aspirations are to play for England but you’ve only got to look at the back row options amongst guys who haven’t been selected recently to see what fantastic players are around. I’ve just got to keep playing as well as I can for Wasps and keep on improving.