LONG READ Tom Willis: 'You need an edge, you need to flick that switch once you cross the line.'

Tom Willis can afford to swagger. In a season when he’s become clear first choice at the back of the Saracens scrum, he has a highlight reel full of snarling, hard carrying venom.

What you can see with the naked eye can be backed up on paper, too. He’s beaten more defenders than any other player in the league, made more metres than any other forward in the Premiership this season and is second only to Olly Cracknell in the carrying stakes. What about the defensive side of his game, you ask? Well, he’s seventh for turnovers and in the top 10 for completed tackles. You’d forgive him for some self-congratulatory backslapping, but that’s not how Willis Jnr is wired. At the culmination of the interview when this writer switches off his recording device, he says, “you haven’t asked me about my brother, do you mind if we talk about him?”

Go on? “Well, he’s loving it [in Toulouse]. He’s at an incredible club, won three trophies in two seasons and he’s rubbing shoulders with the likes of Antoine Dupont. Honestly, I don’t see him coming back any time soon. He’s getting married in August and I’m best man. We speak every day and are incredibly tight.”

In a landscape where it is de rigeur for sporting progeny to bemoan being asked about their more famous parents, or indeed siblings in interviews, Willis puts family front, middle and centre of any conversations, eschewing the self-absorbed characteristics of many highly driven athletes.

The more you speak to Willis about his family – parents Jo and Steve, brother Jack and sister Annabel – the more you understand why sacrifice, empathy and kindness instinctively rises above self-interest.

As a child, Tom opened his home to more than 30 foster children. Some would stay for weeks, while others stayed longer. If it taught Willis anything in his formative years, it was to appreciate his lot where unconditional love was a given. “It does give you a bit perspective. My mum’s an amazing person. I was 11 or 12 when we started fostering and she just loves looking after people. Even now, she does a lot of social services work, and she cares for an elderly couple with Alzheimer’s. People are drawn to her, it’s what she’s best at and dad’s been amazingly supportive too.”

Willis therefore understood from an early stage life isn’t always a fairytale. That being able to put others first is a privilege not granted to all. “They came to us as babies up to eight-years old when the door opened they just became part of the family. More than anything, at such a young age, they were just happy to be safe. We housed some pretty damaged and traumatised kids. Sometimes that won’t show until later in life but if you looked at a picture of them when they joined us compared to when they left, it was moving how much happier and healthier they looked. Mum and Dad kept in touch with quite a few families when the kids were adopted.”

It’s probably been my most consistent season to date. I wasn’t selected for the summer tour to New Zealand last year, so I managed to get a full pre-season in. It allowed me to sort a few niggles and tear in feeling fit and explosive.

Knowing this, it’s unsurprising Willis puts his brother first. Yet, it is Willis Jnr who deserves the plaudits. Starting at No 8 on Saturday at the Allianz Stadium, alongside Guy Pepper and Ted Hill, he fully merits his place in the England back row.

Sitting back, in the wood-panelled environs of Pennyhill Park, Willis smiles when asked about his season and lets out a contented sigh. “It’s probably been my most consistent season to date. I wasn’t selected for the summer tour to New Zealand last year, so I managed to get a full pre-season in. It allowed me to sort a few niggles and tear in feeling fit and explosive. I guess the other factor was [Billy] Vunipola leaving Sarries. A spot opened up and I kicked on from there.”

While his 6ft 4in, 19st heft saw him skittling defenders with a raw insouciance, Willis credits his ability to deal with the high-pressure environment of elite sport by self-funding a performance psychologist, recommended by his brother. Indeed, in the unashamedly macho environment of professional rugby, it’s refreshing to hear someone speak so openly about the need to share feelings, in stark contrast to the Andrew Tate-inspired manosphere garnering so much attention in the digital space. It shows rugby has evolved with society.

“I started working with Katie Mobed last summer and she’s amazing. I can talk to her about anything; sport, feelings and bigger life stuff. It’s taken a bit of weight off my shoulders, especially during the Six Nations and allowed me to compartmentalise other areas of my life. Some clubs are particularly hot on that level of support, others not so much. To my thinking, if you get off-the-field stuff in order, it leads to better performance on it.”

Willis’ mental resolve was tested early on in his professional life, of course, with the implosion of his beloved Wasps, after six years, firstly as an academy player, then first team stalwart. It led him to Bordeaux in the southwest of France. “It was sink or swim. They don’t have to play you. They don’t owe you anything. It toughened me up a bit. You become a bit more robust to the ups and downs of life.”

I loved living being out there [in France]. As I said, it came at a strange time in my life. Wasps went under, I was waiting for a job, an opportunity popped up and I thought, ‘why not?’.

The other fact that helped Willis settle was his brother following him out there weeks later to decamp to Toulouse. For those players wondering about taking the leap, Willis says it’s right up there as a life experience.

“It is an unbelievable league. I loved living being out there. As I said, it came at a strange time in my life. Wasps went under, I was waiting for a job, an opportunity popped up and I thought, ‘why not?’. I spoke to my girlfriend and said, ‘what do you reckon?’ It turned out she had an uncle and aunt about 45 minutes away, so she handed her notice in and followed me out two months later. I had virtually no French, after regrettably mucking around in Year 7 and 8. It was mental.”

Willis spent eight months in one of the world’s most famous wine regions, picking up an appreciation of Claret, and mixed with some of the world’s best players. However, those early months were far from plain sailing. “I remember walking into a café and having no idea what to say. I felt so self-conscious. I’d been in this cossetted academy environment for six years and suddenly I was bumbling round in coffee shops trying to speak French.”

Willis befriended the cosmopolitan squad, which included Santi Cordero, Aussies Zack Holmes and Kane Douglas , while his close friend Gabriel Oghre flew out in the January. Stephen Cooper, his old England U20 analyst also invited Willis to his home with his wife Marion and gave him some old-fashioned hospitality. “I was buzzing they won the Champions Cup. I wouldn’t say the experience changed me but having not gone to university, I guess I did some growing up out there.”

One language Willis had no problem understanding was rugby, and while not giving Ronan O’Gara-esque team-talks he made a conscious decision to fit in. “I didn’t have a translator, so I thought, ‘let’s go back to basics. Work really, really hard, get to know set-piece and lineout calls, and put myself about on the field.’ Looking back, the ground was packed out every weekend and the fans were crazy. I saw a young skinny kid by the name of Louis-Bielle Biarrey, who has turned out okay. He was good mates with French centre Nicholas Depoortère and Matthieu Jalibert is some player, but he has really good English and was a lovely guy. The French guys were sound.”

I’ve always loved to carry, but defensively I think I can offer more. I make a lot of tackles but want them to be more dominant.

Now however, Willis is back in England building a burgeoning reputation as a destructive ball-carrier at the StoneX. A fan favourite for his energy, never-say-die attitude and offloading ability, the bitter disappointment of missing out of a top four place – once a given in their pomp – is starting to fade. However, regrets remain.

“It’s been a bit of a transition year. Of course, we want to get back to how it was a few years ago and we have a great young crop of players in the academy, so the future looks good. Culture-wise, it’s just about getting the right people in the building. It’s so easy to look back over a season of small margins and think, ‘if only we’d done this, or that’. Not lost up at Newcastle. Not lost to Quins at home or Saints away, which was a tough one to take. Win those games and we’d have been comfortably in the top four. It’s on every individual to try and drive that improvement for next season.”

At the mid-stage of his career, Willis is fine-tuning his game, rather than undergoing mass work under the bonnet, leading through actions, not words.

“I’ve always loved to carry, but defensively I think I can offer more. I make a lot of tackles but want them to be more dominant. In terms of leadership, cliched as it is, I like to lead through my actions and get my game in order first. We have a lot of leaders at the club who communicate well. I don’t feel the need to add my two pence.”

Renowned for his rip-snorting runs on the field, his laid-back, composed persona off it is at odds with a player who refuses to be cowed.

“My dad instilled aggression in me. He played at Reading Abbey for many years, after playing at London Irish and he said, ‘you need an edge, you need that switch once you cross the line’. He said it’s not about being stronger, it’s about wanting it more and scrapping for everything. That attitude was drilled into me from a young age.”

Able to add to his solitary cap before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, before being cut from the squad, Willis acknowledges there is a chasm between the domestic and international game, something he found out in this year’s Six Nations, when he chalked up 182 minutes of Test action. “I felt like I did alright in the Six Nations. I could have done more. It’s now about getting more of a transfer from my Saracens form into my international game. The more exposure you get, the more comfortable you feel. Breaking more tackles, being more dominant and growing into the role.”

I’m desperate to be on the plane to Argentina. That is my main focus. The Pumas have a massive, gnarly backrow, with the likes of Marcos Kremer and Pablo Matera and Juan Martin Gonzalez, so they are a serious unit.

Willis is fortunate to be packing down alongside a club colleague in Ben Earl and believes the two Saracens complement each other. “I’m glad the club and Steve [Borthwick] are happy for us to dovetail together. Ben is fantastic at 8, fantastic at 7, and a pretty good at 12”, he smiles. “He’s an incredibly talented player and athlete and works the edge and outside channels so well, whereas I prefer the grunt work up the middle.”

Speaking to Willis, it’s clear rugby isn’t the be all and end all. Being able to switch off and spend time with his family balances him. He has enrolled in an Open University degree in psychology and is settled. “I’ve been with Alice for eight years, after meeting in college. She’s been on the whole journey with me and understands what the pressures are. We chill out by taking our little cocker-spaniel, Benji, out for a walk, which gives me the chance to stop off and eat too many bagels in the coffee shops of Harpenden. To offset that, I’m hoping to work on my golf handicap this summer.”

Before honing his handicap and boosting the takings of local eateries, however, Willis has a solitary aim. “I’m desperate to be on the plane to Argentina. That is my main focus. The Pumas have a massive, gnarly backrow, with the likes of Marcos Kremer and Pablo Matera and Juan Martin Gonzalez, so they are a serious unit and it’s a proper testing ground for us.”

Willis is reminded that after No 8 Caelan Doris pulled out through injury, if Jack Conan is crocked, alongside Welsh veteran Taulupe Faletau, his name has been mentioned in dispatches as one of the next cabs off the rank for a plane to Australia. A big smile crosses his face, but he will not be drawn, quipping that Jack would get the call before him.

Ever the gent and loyal brother, Willis Jnr is playing the rugby of his life and maybe just the sort of athletic, aggressive backrow who could make a serious impression in Australia in the same way Ryan Jones did in 2005. A true Lions bolter. Stranger things have happened.