Armand I guess. Or Mercer if fit. Doubt Willis will get a call up for a few years. A couple good months doesn't warrant a call up, especially when other players have performed at a similar level for years and still dont get selected. Whilst he is a very good young player, we must bare in mind that he is playing in a league with a distinct lack of international atm and that does seem to elevate the performance of players to make them look at a level that they really aren't at yet. He is a fantastic prospect, don't get me wrong, but at the end of the day, he would still struggle against something like that Irish back row. Dismantling a quins back row of Chisholm, Luamanu and Glynn does not cement you as a good international player. If he could go into the england camp and bully Simmonds, Robshaw, Hughes, Billy when he's back and Haskell, then he may be worthy of a place, but I just can't see that at the moment.
We all like to jump on the bandwagons of young players in the assumption that because they perform well at club level, they would do the same at international. I just can't see someone like Smith schooling Sexton or Mercer embarrassing CJ Stander, of course it can happen, but it is very rare.
Being a cemented international is more than about your stats or skill, it is about proving you can compete against the best in the world. Robshaw is a perfect example of this, whilst not flashy, he deals with the best players in the world on a repeated basis. Hartley looks at home on the international stage, whereas Dunn would probably look out of place. You could tell from the very first moment of itojes career that he was a future lion, and there is a big difference there between him and someone like Willis. Armand, in my eyes at least, would look at home on the international stage right now.
And that is the mitigating factor. Such is the player base in England, that we shouldn't rush to give someone like Willis or Smith or Mercer a game simply because they are fantastic club players now, no matter their potential. We have plenty of players around who would look at home as internationals, (Armand) and some who are fantastic club players, but would look out of place in an England shirt (luke Wallace). We have the international quality players now, so why rush in a new one who, deep down, we all know isn't ready.
