Jack Willis handed England an emotional boost last night when joining the squad bound for Grand Slam-chasing France.
England were licking their wounds from Saturday’s record home defeat by Ireland when coach Eddie Jones put in the call to his forgotten star.
Willis has played only three club games since wrecking his knee against Italy in last year’s Six Nations.
But with Tom Curry’s championship over due to hamstring damage, the 25-year old Wasp suddenly finds himself with an outside chance of adding to his three caps.
“Jack’s shown a lot of determination,” said Jones. “To come back from such a difficult injury is a great testament to his resilience and I’m sure he’s going to add value to the squad.”
A further plus came with confirmation that despite failing his Head Injury Assessment on Saturday, Kyle Sinckler did not suffer concussion.
The prop must still complete all of World Rugby’s return to play protocols but his chances of being available for Paris are much improved.
Willis will train for the first time today at England’s Surrey base before the squad flies to Paris after lunch.
“If he trains well then he could be an option,” said Jones. “We’re looking forward to seeing where he’s up to with his international career.”
That career was put on hold on Valentine’s weekend last year when Willis was caught in a ‘crocodile’ roll moments after scoring his first England try.
He ruptured his medial collateral ligament, tore the posterior cruciate and damaged the cartilage.
Team mates turned away as his screams echoed around a stadium empty of fans with the match behind closed doors at the height of the pandemic.
Willis was sidelined for 53 weeks during which time he twice had setbacks which left him doubting he would play again.
“Hand on heart, there have been times I thought I would not make it back,” said a player who had previously overcome a year-long injury to his other knee.
“There were times when I questioned whether I even wanted to make it back, days when I thought, ‘I am done with it now’.”
Defeat to Ireland with 14 men dropped England to fifth in the world rankings and they need to beat France to be sure of avoiding a second consecutive fifth place championship finish.
“I take enormous pride from the team’s performance,” said Jones. “If you take out the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes we probably shaded Ireland.
“But we’re disappointed with the result and we’ve got one chance to go against France who are playing for a Grand Slam at their home ground.
“There’s not a team in the world or in the history of the game that does not have chink in their armour. There is no better opportunity to show what a good team we can be.”
Jones reckons being Australian has added to the pressure he is under to revive England.
He has been around the block enough times to understand the scrutiny that comes with being the highest paid Test coach.
But he said: “I don't think it helps being an Australian but that's part of the deal.”
Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live: “When I decided to do another [World Cup] cycle, I knew that would be more intense.
"The longer you're in the job, the more people probably don't want you to be in the job.”
Nationality is less likely to have anything to do with it than England’s failure to win more than one of their last six championship matches against Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Jones hopes in-form Maro Itoje will help quieten the critics in Paris on Saturday night.
“Maro is going to another peak,” he said. “He climbed Everest as a young player and he looks like he’s going to climb another Everest as a maturing player.”
