The chuckle that spread through the Saracens onlookers told the story. It was about 10 minutes in to a gripping, gruelling Investec Champions Cup tie when a scuffle erupted near Toulouse’s 22, with players from both sides rushing in to join the fracas. The tension was soon defused by the sight of one burly back-rower with another in a headlock – while usually a cause for escalation, here it was greeted with mirth given the identity of the two men involved.
Tom Willis released his grip eventually; sibling Jack responded with a brotherly shove. It might have been a scene the pair shared in formative days in their Reading backyard, but it served to encapsulate a significant win for Saracens – Willis the younger outdoing, just about, his bigger brother on a wretched night in north London.
"I can't say I enjoy it,” Tom Willis said to Premier Sports afterwards, three-and-a-half-years since the pair were parted by the demise of Wasps. “It's a bit of a weird one. Obviously, we played together for six years, and we loved that. So to play against each other was an emotional one, a weird one. But it's been brilliant to see him. I don't see him too often.”
While many in the Saracens ranks stood up with the sort of battling performance demanded of them in a midweek honesty session between players and coaches, one could entertain an argument that the Willis brothers were the two best players on the pitch.
It was another tricky outing for Toulouse, who followed a second-half collapse in tricky conditions against Glasgow in the last round with a performance that failed to adapt to the inclement weather and capricious surface. Jack Willis, though, was their best and brightest, buffeting back his brother after springing from a scrum with one early tackle that looked to set the tone in an opening quarter that the visitors will reflect they should have made more of.
“I thought both Willises played really well,” Maro Itoje assessed. “Jack had his trademark turnovers again and again. He is a big player for them. He did really well. Tom is a massive player for us. I thought he was fantastic and he has been fantastic. He has probably been one of our more consistent performers this year. I thought both Willises played well, but I will give the slight nudge to Tom.”
They were the sort of performances that would usually be assessed in a context of what is to come with the Six Nations a month away but it is certain that when Steve Borthwick names his England squad on 23 January, there will be no Willis included. Jack has been unavailable to the head coach since extending his stay at Toulouse in the wake of an injury-curtailed 2023 World Cup campaign in which he was little more than a bit-part figure, while Borthwick has decided not to pick Tom after his decision to leave the Prem at the end of the season – despite the No 8 possessing one of the 25 enhanced EPS contracts.
There was disappointment at both club and country at the younger Willis brother’s decision to re-join Jack in the Top 14. While the 26-year-old got plenty out of a short stint with Bordeaux Begles in the wake of Wasps entering administration, the first half of this year had seen him establish himself among England’s most important players, with his ball carrying, and capacity to writhe free from the jaws of tacklers, a real point of difference. “He is probably the most awkward ball carrier I have seen,” said Itoje. “He finds a way to get go-forward off a standing start and will wriggle his body and his hips through contact.”
The awarding of that enhanced EPS contract felt like a show of real backing from Borthwick; a couple of months later, Willis spurned a retention offer from Saracens to head back to France. It surprised some given he was, essentially, turning down a tilt at a 2027 World Cup that England look increasingly well placed for, but insiders have noted the bond between the brothers and how the prospect of re-joining a buoyant Bordeaux Begles will appeal to a No 8 who has been Saracens’ standout throughout an uneven season.
While the Rugby Football Union (RFU) is firm and fair in its application of the selection policy, it does feel a slight shame for two siblings of such quality to be playing out their primes yet inaccessible for their nation.
There is no paucity of back-row options available to Borthwick; a figure once compared to Alan Turing by a member of his squad must crack the code and find the right configuration at the base of his pack if his side are to build on an encouraging 2025 with silverware.
The emergence of Guy Pepper and Henry Pollock last year has further crowded and clouded the group, while Greg Fisilau is again showing himself to be a No 8 of huge potential for Exeter. But one suspects that Borthwick would find room for a Willis or two were they able.
