Jack Nowell has been on a dry run back into the England squad and the lighter, sharper, fitter Exeter wing is ready to re-launch his Test career in the Six Nations.
The 28-year-old has not played for his country since a cruelly-abbreviated role in the epic 2019 World Cup campaign led him into a prolonged sequence of ‘mini-nightmares’. But Nowell has come out the other side, by turning down caps in the summer and autumn, to make sure he was absolutely right and ready for national service again.
With greater maturity and the perspective brought by fatherhood, there has been an outbreak of shrewd decision-making from a player whose desperation to rush previous injury comebacks has come at a heavy cost. One smart move has been giving up alcohol, but it has not been easy for the proud owner of the Swordfish Inn — a pub in Newlyn, Cornwall.
Jack Newell (right) is back in England training and contention after deciding to shun alcohol
The winger played at the 2019 World Cup, scoring this try against Argentina in the group stage
‘It’s bloody hard sometimes,’ Nowell tells Sportsmail. ‘You know what we’re like down here at Exeter! That decision came after we played Leicester away in the first game of the season. We lost the game, got on the bus and Rob (Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby) said, ‘Look, it was a tough game. A couple of beers on the way home isn’t going to harm you. Get together, enjoy a few beers and get home’.
‘I did that, but I probably enjoyed one too many. I went out in Exeter, thinking I was still 18 and by the time Monday came round for training, I was probably just getting over my hangover. I was dehydrated and hadn’t eaten very well on the Sunday.
‘On the Wednesday, I had a slight hamstring tear. I thought, ‘Right, if I’m changing my training, I can’t be expecting to go out drinking and then train the same’.
‘I still go out with the lads, but I stick to the soda water so on Sunday I’m able to train again and on Monday I’m good to go. It’s a tough one, but it’s a sacrifice I’m doing to try to get back in the England team and play well for Exeter.’
A leaner and more mature Nowell has been going through his paces with England in Brighton
Rugby is a sport that still — certainly in this part of the world — has a drinking culture, in the sense that club and Test squads are often encouraged to share a few bonding or celebratory beers. The Chiefs are far from alone in embracing that approach, so it has been a challenge for Nowell to stick to his abstention policy.
‘A hard one was when we had the big win over Glasgow,’ he says, in reference to Exeter’s Heineken Champions Cup victory earlier this month. ‘We always have a big ice bucket in the changing room full of beers and ciders — whatever we’ve got at the club. If we have a big win like that, you come into the changing room and see boys cracking them open and sharing them around. It’s tough in that situation, but I just keep thinking about what’s going to help me stay on the field.’
Nowell thinks that the Swordfish stocks zero per cent beers but he has not yet ordered one. And asked if he thinks he might set a trend which team-mates follow, he adds: ‘I don’t know. Down in Exeter, it’s probably a hard sell! A few boys are still giving me some strange looks so I can’t see too many of them catching on to it.’
Since the Premiership final at the end of last season, Nowell has lost 10kg — dropping from 103kg back then to 93kg now. He has been trying to avoid dumbbells as well as beers. When Jones named him in England’s Six Nations training squad, the head coach quipped: ‘He definitely looks more like a rugby player now and less like a body-builder.’
So, was that fair comment? ‘I’ll have to agree with him about that,’ says Nowell. ‘When you’re in a lengthy rehab phase, you do a lot in the gym; a lot of leg weights. I got messed up with all that — thinking I had to keep doing it and get myself as strong as possible.
Eddie Jones says he believes Nowell’s physique is noticeably more suited to rugby than it was
‘I’m not spending so much time in the gym now, lifting weights, trying to do a certain amount of reps and going as heavy as I can.
‘I’ve tried to really pull back from all that because the most important thing is just to keep playing. I’m sure the reason why I kept picking up hamstring tears and quad tears along the way was because my muscles were at their max, for my body shape.
‘There is a certain amount I need to do in the gym to get myself right for the weekend but the most important thing I need to do at the moment is perform well on the pitch. I hit a new max speed in the game against Glasgow and it’s that sort of stuff that I’ve not been able to do over the last few years. So that is reassuring for me.’
The other observation made by Jones was that Nowell has his ‘bounce’ back; an aspect of his playing style which has not — according to Jones — been evident since 2018. That verdict was also readily accepted.
Nowell would love to be involved when England play Scotland in the Six Nations on February 5
‘When I have got my hands on the ball, for me it is about having that bounce and that sharpness,’ says Nowell. ‘If I can beat a defender, get through the first contact, that’s what my game is all about. Instead, I was worrying about what had happened in the past. The reason I get injured is because I stay on my feet for as long as I can, and something has to give. Too often, that has been my body, my ankle or my foot.
‘That’s been worrying me over the last couple of years and probably stopped me from letting go. But I feel in a good position now where I’m properly fit and most of my body is strong, so I don’t have to worry about that any more and I can just concentrate on that bounce and sharpness.’
The personal objective now is to hit the heights for his country, as he has so often for his club. ‘I’m very grateful to have 30-odd caps for England but I’m desperate to get more,’ says Nowell. ‘I’ve missed out on so much.
‘I still feel like I’ve not played one of my best games in an England shirt yet. I’ve got so much more to give. I’ve played a few games for Exeter where I’ve come off the field feeling quite happy — which is rare. But I’ve never had that feeling in an England shirt so I’m desperately chasing that feeling.’
Head coach Eddie Jones mentioned Nowell’s physique after naming him in his training squad
Jack Nowell is a co-founder of Mustard Clothing. Keep up to date at mustardclothing.co.uk.