LONG READ ‘Branding Willis a mercenary does not add up. He and Ford have more in common than you might expect’

So, Tom Willis is going for the money and George Ford is staying for the glory.

One is on his way to France to enjoy the benefits of a Top 14 salary and the tax advantages of being a top sportsman across the Channel; the other has turned down bigger offers from abroad to remain in English rugby.

One has chosen to turn his back on his country with his decision, the other is staying in the hope of finally fulfilling his career-long dream of winning a World Cup with England.

Boos for Tom; cheers for George.

If only it were so simple. As with all these black and white assumptions, the reality is actually painted in shades of grey.

Branding Willis as a rugby mercenary, as some have chosen to do, really does not add up.

Anyone who has spent any time in his company would instinctively conclude he is no cold-hearted euro-chaser. Talk to him about his parents’ foster caring and the perspective that has lent him and you are struck by an athlete with a world view well beyond his own boundaries.

For sure, the financial calculation has to be part of any professional sportsman’s thinking – just as it is for most people when it comes to a job offer.

It is perplexing in one way because, but for it, Willis would almost certainly have been England’s first-choice No.8 this autumn regardless of the fact that Ben Earl is back from Lions duty.

But moving to Bordeaux, as opposed to staying at Saracens, will not make a vast difference to his bank account. Willis, who has an enhanced England contract, would have been well remunerated had he re-signed with the North Londoners or taken up his alternative offers from Bath or Sale.

There is definitely more to his upcoming move than hard cash.

It is perplexing in one way because, but for it, Willis would almost certainly have been England’s first-choice No.8 this autumn regardless of the fact that Ben Earl is back from Lions duty.

Willis’s performances in the series victory over Argentina on the summer tour, when he carried 33 times and beat 18 defenders over the two Tests, made him the outstanding candidate.

Yet, having told Steve Borthwick that he is leaving for France at the end of the season, he has been omitted from the training squad. England’s head coach, understandably, wants to invest time in the players who will be available to him for the 2027 World Cup.

He will depart to join a long line of exiled English No.8s in France – with Billy Vunipola, Sam Simmonds and Zach Mercer all playing in the Top 14. Unlike that trio though, he is the man in position. Willis is throwing away a lot with his call.

At 26, he is still just about young enough to return to England at some point and play in another World Cup but that is obviously a long way from his thinking. So too the prospect of being central to the Saracens regeneration project which looks to be gathering pace nicely at the StoneX.

Willis  is a player that responds to feeling loved and Borthwick has taken some time to come round to trusting him as his first-choice No.8.

There are specific factors at play here which will have exerted an influence on Willis.

The first is the closeness of his relationship with his brother Jack. He hears at first hand on a regular basis how life is for his brother with Toulouse and how he has taken to French rugby – last season he was voted the Top 14’s player of the year.

It is as much Jack’s England experience as his own which has coloured Tom’s thinking.

While Jack was given special dispensation to play for his country at the last World Cup, despite being based overseas, the tournament did not work out as he would have hoped. He was overlooked for the key group games against Argentina and Japan and then invalided out of the World Cup after being injured against Chile.

Tom’s own journey with the national side has not been straightforward either. He is a player that responds to feeling loved and Borthwick has taken some time to come round to trusting him as his first-choice No.8. Perhaps, inwardly, he felt he was only an injury or a blip in form away from looking in from the outside for another lengthy period.

The second relevant point is that he already knows Bordeaux, having spent seven months with the club when Wasps, from whose academy he emerged, went bang in 2022. He and his partner Alice, who has family in France, loved the place. They felt happy there. Committing to a two-year stay on the Atlantic coast with the European champions is no hardship.

In as much as being smashed up on a weekly basis by large humans can be, this smacks almost of a lifestyle decision.

For Ford, oddly, the same is true in re-signing with Sale through to 2029.

While Ford did reject bigger numbers from overseas, including one from R360 believed to be pushing £1m per season, do not be so naive to think he is not being well paid to stay in the North-West.

Of course he wants to carry on playing for England. He passed his century of caps on the summer tour where he co-captained the side. At 32, he is still playing as well as ever. While he faces stiff competition for the No 10 jersey, the plan may well be for some sort of job share with Fin Smith during the autumn.

He is driven by a desire to help Sale take the step from being nearly-men to champions too.

While Ford did reject bigger numbers from overseas, including one from R360 believed to be pushing £1m per season, do not be so naive to think he is not being well paid to stay in the North-West.

But for him too there are personal factors at play. His wife Atdhetare runs four businesses in the area. The couple have an 18-month-old daughter.

He spends most days with his brother Joe, who is Sale’s attack coach.

It works for Ford to stay on many levels. Despite having played at Bath and Leicester, the Lancastrian stand-off is a home bird at heart.

It would be instructive to put Ford and Willis in the same room and listen to them talking through their decisions. They are players at different stages of their careers and their lives who have reached different conclusions over their respective futures.

Perhaps though, the pair of them would have more in common with their reasoning than you might expect.