Willis wonder show and Smith's new shooting boots

He may not the best back row in his family, but he is clearly the best in the Premiership right now.

Tom Willis, whose brother Jack continues to tear up trees for European champions Toulouse, has been in superb form all season.

His display in Saracens' 35-26 win over Bristol was a tour de force.

He scored two tries, gaining 44 metres and beating five defenders from 12 carries, while also making 23 tackles and securing two turnovers.

His first try was a battering pick-and-go from the back of a breakdown. His second was from longer range, seeing him scorch around Noah Heward and Viliame Mata on his way into the corner.

At one point in defence, he picked up Rich Lane, put him under his arm like a beach brolly and casually carried the Bears' full-back back towards his own line.

Bristol, who have conceded more points than everyone except bottom side Newcastle, have a propensity to make the opposition look good.

But Willis' campaign is a serious body of work.

He has beaten more defenders than any other player in the Premiership. He is the only forward in the top 10. He is eighth on metres made, without racking up the 'easy' kick receipt yardage. Again, he is the only forward in the top 10.

He is Saracens' leading tackler, seventh overall in the league and turnovers.

His only England cap came as a 54th-minute replacement in a World Cup warm-up defeat by Wales in August 2023.

More are surely coming. And soon.

The Premiership prides itself on its competitiveness.

Maybe it is the disorientating effect of three quick rounds around Christmas, 'Twixtmas' and the New Year, but there has been something different in the rhythm of recent matches.

Last week Sale went to Bristol and dished out 38 unanswered pointsy, while Saracens, albeit down to 14 men for much of the match, went down 68-10 to Bath.

This week the final scorelines were tighter, but there were still big swings in momentum.

Gloucester had the early mojo at Kingsholm, leading Sale by 19 points after 26 minutes and eventually nursing that lead through to a 36-20 win.

Northampton were even faster out of the blocks on Sunday, racing to a 19-0 lead over Bath in only 13 minutes at Franklin's Gardens.

That turned out to be a see-sawing hum-dinger, with table-topping Bath coming on strong around the hour mark before defending champions Saints eventually edged to victory via Fin Smith's last-play penalty.

Game management and in-match consistency could be the key for sides attempting to ride the top-flight chaos into the play-offs.

Marcus Smith's box of ball-in-hand tricks gets most of the attention, but the England fly-half's kicking has come on substantially this season.

He landed all six of his shots at goal in Harlequins' 38-14 win over Newcastle on Friday night, taking his record this season to 27 successful shots out of 28.

His only miss in the Premiership was a conversion attempt in a defeat by Northampton at the beginning of October.

By contrast, Smith was down at the bottom of the Premiership stats last season, landing only 65% of his kicks from the tee.

Smith endured a chastening evening in Dunedin last summer, missing three kicks in England's 16-15 first-Test defeat by New Zealand. He vowed to learn from it.

He was precise in the autumn internationals and the homework continues to pay off.

In January 2024, when Immanuel Feyi-Waboso opted for England over Wales, Warren Gatland name-checked another wing as a cautionary tale.

"England selected Ollie Hassell-Collins, he had one game and now he's been thrown out a bit like water from a bath," said the Wales coach, adding a week later that he would have been keen on capping dual-qualified Hassell-Collins in red.

In theory, Gatland may still get his wish.

Hassell-Collins has not played for England since a Six Nations match against Italy in February 2023.

Unless he plays for England or England A again in the meantime (he was a non-playing member of the second-string squad who beat Portugal in February), the 25-year-old will become eligible to switch to Wales midway through next year's Six Nations.

But Hassell-Collins has hit form at an opportune time.

He crossed for a fourth successive match as Leicester beat Exeter, and is now level with Bristol's Gabriel Ibitoye at the top of the Premiership's try-scoring stats.

With George Furbank and Feyi-Waboso among the injury doubts for at least the start of the Six Nations, Hassell-Collins' back-three understanding with Tigers full-back Freddie Steward is another advantage he would bring to the England side.

A new claimant for a try assist emerged in Newcastle on Friday.

Ben Stevenson's hack ahead looked destined to run dead until it pinballed off the corner flag, sitting up perfectly for Ben Redshaw to dot down for Falcons' second try against Harlequins.

It wouldn't have happened back in the day.

Contact with the corner flag used to mean a ball or player was in touch, until the laws were tweaked almost two decades ago.

But modern mini-post protectors also played a part - the old-school plastic pole would surely not have had the bouncebackability to set up a try for Newcastle.