The ridiculous Jack Willis turnover rate stat
Prior to their Challenge Cup contest with Agen at the Ricoh Arena over the weekend, Wasps shared an impressive stat about flanker Jack Willis.
The 22-year-old has long been tipped as Wasps’ star for the future, and his haul of 13 turnovers in his last 175 minutes for the club shows that.
That equates to a remarkable one turnover every 13 minutes and 27 seconds of rugby played.
Willis’ area of expertise has always been the breakdown, and stats like this only show how dangerous he is. It also shows that the anterior cruciate ligament rupture he suffered in May 2018 has not stopped him progressing as a player.
The flanker suffered the injury playing for Wasps two seasons ago in the Premiership semi-final against Saracens. He had only just been named in Eddie Jones’ squad to tour South Africa at the end of that season, but he ended up missing the majority of the following 2018/19 season.
Although he returned towards the end of last campaign for Wasps, his season was again cut short with an ankle injury. This season has also been hampered by injury so far, with what Dai Young described as a “freak” training ground knee injury, but Willis is showing the form that many know he is capable of.
The fact that he was called up to the England squad at such a young age shows that Jones is an admirer of his, as he has always been touted to represent England. However, he is part of a remarkable generation of young flankers in England, which includes Tom Curry, 21, Sam Underhill, 23, and Lewis Ludlam, 23, of the players who have represented their country already, and many more across the Premiership.
Willis undoubtedly has the ability to compete with these players for the six and seven shirt for England over the next decade, and will be on Jones’ radar for the upcoming Six Nations. Players with his ability over the ball are a rare commodity and are in great demand in Test rugby.
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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