The Times - UK (2022-01-03)

the times | Monday January 3 2022 55

Sport

MATT IMPEY/SHUTTERSTOCK

Nowell back

to his best

after cutting

out alcohol

Adam Hathaway

It was after the coach ride home from

Exeter’s season-opening defeat at

Welford Road that Jack Nowell decided

something had to change. The Chiefs

had lost 34-19 to Leicester and their

England wing didn’t wait for New Year

to make his resolution: no more beers.

Nowell, 28, has seen his international

career stall since 2019, hampered by in-

juries to his toe, hamstring and knee.

He also noticed that recovering from

nights out at the weekend was getting

more difficult.

He owns a pub in Penzance, the

Swordfish Inn, so the temptation was

there over Christmas when he was

visiting his Cornish family, but Nowell’s

performances since swearing off beer

have justified the self-discipline and put

him firmly back on the radar of Eddie

Jones, the England head coach.

“I am not saying that I was a big

drinker but rugby players, especially

our team, enjoy going out for a few

beers after each game and sometimes

that leads on to going into town and

early mornings,” he said. “But I have

completely cut that out.

“It was slowing me down a little bit

with recovery on a Monday and Tues-

day. I am getting a bit older as well. It is

not just down to that, but I think it has

been a big thing and dropping weight

has been big for me.

“I missed out over Christmas. It is

tough to watch everyone drinking at

Christmas but it is the sacrifice you

have got to make. Leicester away was

the first game of the season for us and

we had a few on the bus coming home

and we got a bit carried away. I tore my

hamstring that week and I was out for

another three or four weeks. I thought

enough is enough, I want to get on the

field and I want to play.”

Nowell has shed 10kg since winning

the Gallagher Premiership and

Heineken Champions Cup with Exeter

in 2020, when he sacrificed a potential

spot on the British & Irish Lions tour to

South Africa to play in the finals with

his toe problem.

He is healthy now, though, and

Saturday — when Nowell played a key

role in Tom O’Flaherty’s brilliant

opening try as Exeter beat Bristol Bears

19-13 — was the latest in a series of

performances that have put him back in

the picture for England selection for

the Six Nations.

“My toe took longer than I thought

but that is obviously my fault because I

played two games of rugby on it when it

was completely buggered,” Nowell

recalled. “I can’t complain about that

because we won the two trophies with

it and I would never have wanted to

have missed that with the team. It was

worth it.

“For a 5ft 11in guy, weighing over

100kg is probably not the best but I am

back down to about 90kg now and I am

feeling good, feeling light, and that is

definitely my playing weight.

“Eddie has always been in touch with

me. I have spoken him before each

camp and it is great to have that contact

with the team still. I have always

wanted to get back in there.”

Nowell is in the

picture for Six

Nations selection

Words by Kit Shepherd

Borthwick puts cap

investigation aside

0

2

Chris Jones

1

Leicester Tigers

Newcastle Falcons

31

0

Brown, in his 250th Premiership game,

dropped a high kick and moments later

it was Leicester’s Steward, the most

secure England full back under the high

ball since Brown, who fumbled.

Guy Porter, the home wing, thought

he had grabbed the opening try but his

acrobatic attempt to ground a clever

kick from Youngs was ruled out as his

left hand went out of play as he placed

the ball down.

With Leicester generating posses-

sion through their solid lineout, Ford

was allowed to play the territory game

and after his early penalty it was a driv-

ing maul from a lineout that delivered

the first try. The backs joined in as the

mass of bodies moved towards the line

and it was Dan Kelly, the centre, who

came up with the try.

Ford converted and was instrumen-

tal in the second try after Eli Snyman

had secured the lineout ball. Ford

chipped through and when Joel Hodg-

son failed to collect the ball it was drib-

bled ahead by Matt Scott, who gave his

side a 17-0 half time lead.

Martin added a third try from close

range before Newcastle made a raft of

changes in the final quarter — as did

Leicester. The visitors did get extra

energy, if not points, from the new ar-

rivals, but it was Leicester who grabbed

the final points with that Burns kick to

Potter and his touchline conversion

raised one final cheer from the fans.

Dean Richards, the Newcastle di-

rector of rugby, paid tribute to the influ-

ence of Ford and Youngs and said: “We

were very rusty and didn’t play the

conditions well enough. Ford was

outstanding and controlled the game

with Youngs. They are on a roll and are

playing the Saracens and Eddie Jones

kick-chase game well.”

Sale’s four-try victory over Wasps, a 26-18 win

that lifted them to ninth, was the first time

they had taken the maximum five points from

a game this season

Tom O’Flaherty (Exeter Chiefs) v Bristol Bears

Kick

Run

Pass

LINEOUT

Bristol defenders

Jack

Maunder

Jack

Nowell

Henry

Slade

Luke Morahan

Tom O’Flaherty

Ollie

Devoto

Devoto

Dave

Ewers

Joe Simmonds

Stuart Simmonds

Hogg

Hogg

Hogg

A

A

Clean lineout ball,

accurate passing and

well-timed dummy

runs create space

B

B

Jack Nowell sends

through a grubber for

Stuart Hogg to chase

C

C

The electric Hogg

gathers and offloads to

O’Flaherty for a simple

run-in

D Cole

(Leicester)

3

J Hill

(Exeter)

5

J du Preez

(Sale)

4

J Walker

(Harlequins)

2

A Lozowski

(Saracens)

13

A Esterhuizen

(Harlequins)

12

A MacGinty

(Sale)

10

B Earl

(Saracens)

7

R Ackermann

(Gloucester)

8

O Sleightholme

(Northampton)

14

S Hogg

(Exeter)

15

B Rodd

(Sale)

1

D Ewers

(Exeter)

6

D Care

(Harlequins)

9

J Marchant

(Harlequins)

11

Alex Lozowski

(Saracens)

Scored 20 points,

including a crucial

opening try that put

daylight between

Saracens and

Northampton after a

tight first half. In wet

conditions, the centre

converted a very

respectable six out of his

seven kicks off the tee. A

typically reliable

presence as the north

London outfit began

2022 in style.

Try of the week Player of the week

1

Stat of the week

Team of the week

TMO (the monday overview)

Scorers: Leicester: Tries Kelly (31), Scott (38),

Martin (54), Potter (80). Cons Ford 3, Burns

Pens Ford (2).

Leicester F Steward; H Potter, M Scott (M Moroni

67min), D Kelly, G Porter; G Ford (F Burns 65), B

Youngs (J van Poortvliet 54); E Genge (N

Leatigaga 54), J Montoya (C Clare 65), D Cole (J

Heyes 63), E Snyman, C Green, H Wells, T Reffell

(N Dolly 65), G Martin (K Murimurivalu 69)

Newcastle M Brown; M Carreras, M Orlando (T

Penny 43), L Burrell, A Radwan; J Hodgson (B

Connon 57), L Schreuder (S Stuart 57); K Cooper

(L Mulipola, 52), C Maddison (R Smith 57), T

Davison (M Tampin 57), G Peterson, S Robinson, P

van der Walt, W Welch (G Graham 62), C Fearns

(C Chick 57).

Referee: K Dickson. Attendance: 22,515.

Leicester Tigers may be facing a salary-

cap investigation off the pitch, but on it

they remain untouchable, with a bo-

nus-point defeat of Newcastle Falcons

making it 15 successive wins this season.

It took a clever cross kick from the

replacement Freddie Burns to allow

Harry Potter to evade Mike Brown’s

tackle for the bonus-point try at the

death after Leicester had lost their way

in the final quarter.

Leicester are at the centre of a

Premiership Rugby salary-cap inquiry

into a defunct image rights company

and allegations of historic third-party

player payments. Premiership Rugby

regulations state that a breach of the

salary cap in excess of £200,000 could

trigger various punishments, including

a 50-point deduction, fine or automatic

relegation.

Yet there is nothing that Steve Borth-

wick, the head coach, can do about the

past and his only focus is on his team.

They continue to prove their title

credentials, with the young George

Martin and Freddie Steward impress-

ing despite the difficult conditions.

“We spoke to the players [about the

investigation] and told them the infor-

mation we have and got on with prepa-

rations,” Borthwick said. “Many things

keep me awake at night and it’s not that;

ultimately this was a team that was the

best and when I came in 18 months ago

it was the worst in the league. It is my

job to bring this team up from the

bottom of the pile.

“What other stuff is going on behind

the scenes from years prior to me

coming is irrelevant. Everything is

being investigated and I cannot do

anything about it.”

George Ford, the England fly half,

was making his 100th start for Leicester

and when the heavens opened the

Newcastle players knew that life was

going to be even tougher under his

spiralling kicks, with scrum half Ben

Youngs adding to the opposition’s prob-

lems with his astute tactical kicking.

At the height of the deluge even

Itoje reaches

over to score

and seal a fine

away win

for Saracens