1
REPORT: Cautiously optimistic news emerges on Jack Willis injury
By Ian Cameron
Wasps flanker Jack Willis may not have ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in England's Round 2 match with Italy at Twickenham - The Coventry Telegraph report.
Many feared the worst for Willis, who suffered the sickening injury when being cleared out of a ruck by Italy's Sebastien Negri, a move which left Willis wailing in agony and having to be removed from the pitch on a medical cart.
Yet while Willis is expected to be out of the game for some time, it appears that his ACL has crucially not been 'done'.
"It's really early and I don't want to go concrete with this but it sounds like he has done quite a few things with his knee," Wasps Director of Rugby Lee Blackett told Bobby Bridge of The Coventry Telegraph. "It's pretty serious. But at this moment in time it looks like he has not done his ACL. He will spend a long time out, I should imagine.
"I've only had a couple of text messages with him, as you can imagine, there will be a lot of people messaging him. I think by the sounds of things he is just typical Jack really. He wishes us good luck this morning, the thing that will make him happy is that we get a result and hopefully we've done that for him.
"It's hard to get how he is in terms of a text message. I know Jack, I know how distraught he will be. This happens to professional rugby players. We will be there to support him in any way we possibly can.
Latest https://t.co/CRz8XLJEkC
— Bobby Bridge (@bobby_bridge) February 14, 2021
"I'd like to go on the record as well, I think England have been fantastic. Richard Hill with me, the doctors, the physios with our club, I'm nothing but grateful to England for how they have contacted us and dealt with this whole situation."
Negri public messaged Jack Willis on Twitter, saying: "A quick message to Jack Willis. So sorry about what happened yesterday. Just Horrible and never nice to see. Myself and all the Italian Rugby boys are wishing you all the best. I hope to see you back on the field again soon. Take care and we all know you will be back stronger."
Some have called for the 'crocodile roll' technique to be completely banned, although there seems to be some debate over how legal the practice is, as it stands under World Rugby Laws.
"We need to go back to refereeing the law. It is illegal to collapse a ruck. It is illegal to enter below hip height. That would stop crocodile rolls like this happening, which will stop horrific injuries like this one," retired referee Nigel Owens wrote in his Sports Mail column.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
Go to comments