Tom Willis to join Bordeaux with England future riding on overseas pick
Tom Willis has told England head coach Steve Borthwick he will join Bordeaux, putting his Test future in the hands of a one-man overseas exception.
Borthwick has been given a free pass to pick one player based outside England, The Guardian reported on 15 October 2026. That rule is now central to Willis’s story. Play in France and you are normally unavailable for England. This time there is a single slot.
Willis broke the news to Borthwick shortly before the 2025 autumn internationals. It came only a couple of months after he had received an enhanced England contract worth £150,000.
The timing stings for England. The enhanced deals were designed to keep key men in the Premiership, England’s top domestic league. Willis chose a different path.
His destination needs no introduction in Europe. Union Bordeaux Bègles arrive into the new season as defending back-to-back Investec Champions Cup champions, Europe’s top club competition. They begin that defence away at Gloucester at Kingsholm on Friday, 16 October.
Gloucester fans have seen Willis in Bordeaux colours before. He joined the French club on a short-term deal in November 2022 after Wasps went bust, before moving to Saracens the following summer. During that spell he scored in the 38th minute of the Gloucester against Bordeaux-Bègles Champions Cup tie on 10 December 2022, The Guardian reported at the time.
He has since become a heavy carrier for Saracens. He scored from a lineout drive, when forwards bundle the ball-carrier forward from a throw-in at the side of the pitch, against the Sharks in the Champions Cup on 13 December 2025. Then on 11 January 2026 he helped Saracens beat Toulouse in a family affair against his brother Jack’s side.
That sibling thread runs deep. Jack Willis is captain of Toulouse and has twice been named Top 14 player of the season, France’s domestic player-of-the-year award. The brothers know French rugby well.
Bordeaux are a formidable landing spot. They beat Bath 38-26 to reach the Champions Cup final in May 2026, Reuters reported, with winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scoring twice in a Champions Cup victory later that month. Their attack is led by coach Noel McNamara.
For fans, this means two contests to watch. Can Bordeaux’s power game make Willis even more effective, and will Borthwick spend his one overseas pick on him when World Cup selection comes around?
England, under senior men’s head coach Borthwick, have been building depth through larger training groups, including a 36-player squad named for the 2026 Nations Championship. Willis’s call adds an edge. He has backed himself in France. Now he must be worth the exception.
