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'Amazing trip; I learned how to tour with a senior men’s team'
Charlie Ewels can’t wait to finally play in an England shirt after a two-year wait. The Bath lock was red carded just 82 seconds into his country’s Guinness Six Nations loss to Ireland in March 2022 and an ACL injury on the Australian tour that summer left him playing catch-up to make the following year’s Rugby World Cup squad.
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The 28-year-old even hooked up with the Currie Cup Bulls in April to get game time in South Africa that he wasn’t in a position to get with the Gallagher Premiership season at Bath reaching its conclusion.
That comeback was followed by inclusion in the wider England training squad for France 2023 but he missed out on the 41-strong full squad named in July to prepare for the tournament, and he was also surplus to requirement when Steve Borthwick originally named his selection for the 2024 Six Nations.
A Girona training camp illness suffered by Nick Isiekwe resulted in a belated Ewels recall last month.
Then, having spent two days at the start of this week training with the England first team squad at Pennyhill ahead of their ill-fated trip to Scotland, he was released on Tuesday night to George Skivington’s A squad and will now skipper the side in Sunday’s clash with Portugal in Leicester.
What England A head coach George Skivington is hoping to see from Charlie Atkinson, his new Gloucester out-half, in Sunday's clash with Portugal. #ENGvPOR #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/LopTU6Gktj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 24, 2024
“It is, yeah,” said Ewels when asked how big a deal it would be for him to lead England A out at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. “It will be the first time I played in an England shirt since February ’22, so massively looking forward to it; it’s always an honour to play in an England shirt.”
Having come through the England age-grade system and been part of the U20s that clinched 2014 World Cup final glory in Auckland against South Africa, Ewels was involved in the last game his country played at A level, the Saxons’ 2016 tour win over South Africa A in George.
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That success helped to put the forward on track for a career that has so far garnered 30 Test caps and he will hope that another run-out with the As eight years after they last played will help to keep him in the first-team squad mix in a year where Borthwick’s charges have a summer tour featuring games against Japan and New Zealand (two).
“Really fond memories,” said Ewels, looking back on his 2016 South African adventure and explaining the importance of these A-level games.
“It was an amazing trip, an amazing tour. I learned how to tour with a senior men’s team, I learned how to play with guys that were a lot older than me, which I hadn’t really done.
“I had played at the club but I hadn’t really done anything like that in an England shirt. Before that, it was always with lads my age in either 20s or 18s.
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“I learned what that environment looked like. You become very conditioned to your club environment, club coaches and you know what is expected and know how you are going to be coached and how you are going to play.
“So to actually go and test yourself as a rugby player: can I take my transferrable skills into this new environment where we might play slightly differently or we might do stuff that we are not quite used to; can I take the fundamentals of my game around my tackle, my carry, my set-piece, can I take them and show what I can do these things in this new team?”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments