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'You don't want to see your child hurt whatever': The emotional toll Jack Willis' latest serious knee injury had on his family
Injured England back-rower Jack Willis released the third episode of The Rebuild 2.0, his Instagram documentary series, on the same day as the Lions announced the names of the 37 players they are bringing to South Africa in July.
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Players who can jackal and win regular turnovers was mentioned by Warren Gatland as a useful weapon for the Lions to have in their armoury on tour and England newcomer Willis would surely have merited being in the back-rower selection discussion had he been fit.
Willis managed to win an astounding 46 turnovers in last year’s Gallagher Premiership season, 27 more than next-best Blair Cowan, and the 24-year-old had since gone on to make his international Test debut for England under Eddie Jones.
However his third cap – against Italy in February – ended in the nightmare of the second serious knee ligament injury of his career, a devastating body blow suffered just minutes after he had scored a try in the Guinness Six Nations fixture.
Willis has since been charting his rehabilitation on social media and has now released the third instalment of his mini-documentary series. Aside from footage in the latest five-minute episode of the stricken Wasps forward getting back to work at the club training ground, there are also emotional contributions from his family, tearful parents Steve and Jo and his sister Annabel.
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“We heard the noise you made and you never do that unless you were badly hurt. Just gone from the highest high to just pain. I was just feeling pain for you. It was pretty sad… you don’t want to see your child hurt whenever,” said dad Steve, reflecting on how he felt twelve weeks ago when his son was seriously injured when crocodile rolled by an Italian opponent.
“Rugby and family are two of the biggest parts of my life and I am not sure what kind of bloke I would be without them,” said Jack during the episode. “For me talking about what is going on in my head is a big thing.
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“I like to think I’m quite an emotional person and I am happy to let my emotions out but it is weird how it catches you with an injury like this. My main frustration is I am not playing rugby and this is what is going on but your mind works in a weird way that the little things can tip you over the edge.
“There is a long way to go with the knee but I have tried to make sure there are other focuses throughout this because these sort of injuries give you a reality check that you won’t be playing rugby forever and you have got to have something else.”
Aside from family and what Willis was thinking as he contemplated his latest long road back from a serious knee injury, his apprehension about getting back to work was also documented. “There is always a bit of anxiousness around ‘oh is this going to hurt’, will I be able to do it?’ But actually today, going through the exercises felt pretty good and it just meant that your confidence lifts a little bit as well and you start to think, ‘oh actually I can do this’.
“It’s pretty exciting to start that first day and get going with it, especially when you have been sat on the sofa for four, five weeks, it’s pretty draining mentally. It’s little exercises but it’s suddenly being able to squat and bend my knee up to 60 degrees, it just feels like such a nice thing to be able to do considering a week ago I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t even put my foot on the ground.”
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'Half my mates who have already retired say, ‘Don’t retire. Do as much as you can because it’s hard on the other side’
Staying fit at 38 ✅
Giving up All Blacks dream ✅
How rugby changed ✅
The kick that haunts him ✅@jimmygopps talks to @heagneyl 👨💻https://t.co/5u0qxKNIOE— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 25, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
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