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Jack Nowell posts three-word reaction to his La Rochelle debut
Jack Nowell got his club career in France underway on Thursday evening, debuting for La Rochelle in a pre-season friendly versus Bordeaux in Dax. The England winger decided at the end of the 2022/23 campaign with Exeter that he wouldn’t be staying in England for the summer to compete for a spot in his country’s Rugby World Cup squad.
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The 30-year-old was last capped when Eddie Jones was in charge for the 2022 Autumn Nations Series.
Having since signed a deal to switch to the Top 14 for the 2023/24 season, Nowell felt it best that he arrived in France in time to do the full pre-season at his new club and get his wife and young family settled into their new surroundings rather than train with Steve Borthwick’s England.
Nowell’s decision to summer in France was rewarded with a debut win for his new club, La Rochelle defeating Top 14 rivals Bordeaux 26-15 in a match where the ex-England winger unusually lined out from the start at outside centre in the No13 shirt.
The reigning Heineken Champions Cup holders, who comfortably defeated Nowell’s Exeter in the semi-finals last April before dramatically beating Leinster in the following month’s final, was in an XV that saw Ihaia West and Tawera Kerr-Barlow renew their half-back partnership following West’s return to the club after a single season at Challenge Cup winners Toulon.
Felt good that!!?? https://t.co/xojFASjy9q
— Jack Nowell (@nowellsy15) August 11, 2023
La Rochelle tweeted a post-game picture of Nowell playing in his new club colours and he soon replied: “Felt good that.”
It was in May, just a couple of days after it emerged that Nowell told England he was unavailable for RWC training squad selection, that he explained to RugbyPass his reasons for moving to France in time for La Rochelle’s pre-season before their Top 14 campaign begins away to Montpellier on August 20.
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“Don’t get me wrong, it was a hard decision. Originally, I was going to be named in the provisional (England) squad, which is going to come out soon, but the reaction has been very positive.
“This is a decision I haven’t just made over the last couple of weeks, it was probably months and months ago now that I made the decision, so I have actually had a long time to think about it and to dwell on it and I’m sticking by it. It is the best decision I could have made for the family.
“It’s hard moving, very hard. If it was just me and my wife, it would be a lot easier but the fact that we have got three kids and one of them being a new-born does make it a little bit harder.
“The first thing I want to make sure of is they are happy and settled. It’s not just as easy as packing a couple of bags and off you go.
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“I need to make sure we have got a suitable house for them, I need to make sure we have a decent car, that we are in a nice area and then we have also got to sort schools and stuff like that.
“As much in the background I am trying to get myself ready and get my body ready, I’d say the majority of my thoughts at the moment is making sure that they get settled as quickly as possible.”
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