Tom Willis revealed a culture shock as a youngster set him up for life with the big beasts of Test rugby.
The Saracens back row was boy amongst men when he had a brief taste of life in the Championship as a teenager at Wasps.
The second-tier has been a proving ground for future England stars with the likes of Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie playing for Plymouth and Ollie Chessum doing a stint at Nottingham.
Further back in the day, Dan Cole cut his propping teeth at Bedford where Owen Farrell had a brief spell on loan.
Back in October 2017, Willis was collared by Lee Blackett, then an assistant coach at Wasps, and sent up to Rotherham to mix it with some proper adults who had been round the block – and the No.8 admits it was a massive lesson.
Willis, now 26, said: “It was in interesting. I had made my Premiership debut the week before and my academy manager Jon Pendlebury was chatting to Lee who also used to coach Rotherham.
“Lee thought it’d be a good idea to send me and Will Porter up there to toughen us up a bit. To be fair it was a pretty gritty experience. I played a couple of Championship games, got beaten up and then went back to Wasps.
“I was 18 and it was a tough learning experience. It’s all a bit of a blur really, you come on try and hit some things, but it all passes by pretty quick.”
Willis, who also had a spell at Bordeaux after the collapse of Wasps, won his third cap, and had his first start, at No.8 in last weekend’s 26-25 win over France which got England’s Six Nations ball rolling.
It also teed up this Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Twickenham with England aiming to end a winless run against Finn Russell and co stretching back to 2020.
And Willis is more at home in the England set-up these days after winning his first cap in a 2023 World Cup warm-up game and being in and out of squads ever since – until his Six Nations call-up.
He added: “It feels different. Last time I had spent the season in France and I didn’t know anybody apart from brother, I knew a couple of lads from U20s, this time I have got the Sarries boys and all the boys I know a lot better. It is a lot easier now and it feels nice to throw myself into it fully.
“I had a bit of a taste of it a couple of years ago and have been in and out of selection conversations and alignment camps but this is the first opportunity I have had to be in a squad and training regularly.”
Rugby logic says Willis’ brother Jack should also be lining up against the Scots but he is barred as he plays for Toulouse in the Top 14.
“I go to him for advice quite a lot. He has kicked on massively with Toulouse,” said Willis.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-02-16 15:30:03
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