At 9pm French time on Monday, Jack Willis strode to the stage at the iconic Paris venue of L’Olympia to accept the TOP14 Player of the Year award with his white shirt soaked with sweat.
The Sharks side has been bolstered by four of their back-to-back Rugby Championship-winning Springboks when they face Leinster in Dublin this weekend, but the return of lock Eben Etzebeth is still on ice.
Next week, Steve Borthwick and his England players will gather at Pennyhill Park for a short training camp and there may be one or two new faces in the squad for the autumn internationals.