Jack Willis offers RFU chance to test whether central contracts can work

Viewed through the narrow prism of current events, one name leaps off England’s squad list for the autumn series. A penny for poor Jack Willis’s thoughts as he seeks to balance playing at the highest level with being made redundant at Wasps. Suddenly, he is also that rarest of unicorns: an English international primarily employed by his national union, not his club.

Forget about central contracts being a future possibility because in effect they are already here. If the Rugby Football Union really wanted to be bold it would jump in and offer Willis – and possibly one or two of his Wasps clubmates – a retainer until next year’s World Cup. Followed by other players once the eight-year professional game agreement expires in 2024.

Let’s pause for a moment and contemplate the potential ripple effect.

Having dawdled and missed its chance when the game turned professional in the 1990s, the RFU would be back in control. The national head coach, as in Ireland, would have a far greater say regarding his players’ workload. The whole complexion of squad announcements would also change. There would still be scope for rising newcomers such as, in this instance, the excellent Harlequins wing Cadan Murley, but the majority of players would be on annual or multi-year deals with the union.

Progress? If you are a cash-strapped club forced to pay top dollar for internationals who are seldom available, it is a double-edged sword. Your wage bill goes down but you also lose your prime marketing asset for even bigger chunks of the season. A more sustainable but less star-studded Premiership? It could yet unfold that way.

When it was put to Eddie Jones that the job of England head coach might just be about to become simpler, there was absolutely