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The advice 'special' Ethan Roots was given before joining England camp
Ethan Roots did not look like a player making his international debut at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, not by a long shot.
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The Exeter Chiefs flanker in no way seemed overcome by the occasion, topping England’s carries chart in a player of the match performance and in the process looking like a player that could make the No6 shirt his for years to come.
It is not only on the pitch that Roots is making his mark with England, but he has found his “voice” in camp as well.
Whether it comes from being just that bit older than the other debutants in the England squad – 26, compared to the 20-year-old Chandler Cunningham-South or the 21-year-old duo of Fin Smith and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – or whether it is the I-fear-no-man mentality that comes from his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background, but Roots has already emerged as a vocal presence in Steve Borthwick’s camp.
This attitude comes naturally to him though, but he was nevertheless advised by many before linking up with England to find his “voice”.
“I think energising other people and being vocal is just kind of something that I’m good at,” the New Zealand-born flanker said. “But lots of people told me coming in that I need to find my voice and keep it in camp, so I just try to do that.”
Roots brought that off-field energy to the Stadio Olimpico pitch on Saturday, as England earned their first round one victory in the Guinness Six Nations since 2019 with a 27-24 win.
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What was more promising than his standout performance on debut was the fact that the blindside showed signs that he could be the answer to a problem that has plagued England since Eddie Jones’ era.
England have been light on bruising ball carriers in the pack in recent years. That is not to say that they have not had any, but often they have had fewer big carriers than the top teams. Their players have had strengths elsewhere, but their prowess with ball in hand in the tight has not necessarily been their strong point.
Italy are not the strongest side England will face this Six Nations, so fans should not necessarily get carried away, but there were signs in Rome that Borthwick may have found his ideal No6.
It was a display that caught the eye of former South Africa flanker Schalk Burger, who described him as a “proper carrier” and “special” on RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office. This is what the 110kg flanker sees as his “point of difference,” which he said his head coach called for leading into the Championship.
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“Steve just said for everyone to bring their point of difference,” the former Maori All Blacks representative said. “And I think if I can get my hands in the ball, the more times I can do that the better for myself and hopefully, like today, for the team as well.”
What may have pleased Borthwick the most from the first match of the Championship was how adept his debutants looked in Test rugby. Fraser Dingwall joined Roots in the starting XV in making his first England appearance, with Cunningham-South, Smith and Feyi-Waboso all featuring from the bench, and while his head coach did not want to single anyone out, he did say the Exeter man looked “very much at home ” on the Test stage.
“You don’t want to single individuals out,” Borthwick said. “It’s a special day for all five of them and a special day for me to be involved with them at the start of their England careers.”
“Just chatting to them in the changing rooms, they are going to be wearing the England shirt for a long time… I think Ethan Roots looked very much at home. He was outstanding.
“And for Fraser in the centres, when you have got a different combination – and that is one of the challenges of playing in the centres, having never played with that 10 and that 13 before – I thought he did really well to help glue that combination together.”
Behind his composed demeanour, Roots did admit that he was nervous prior to his debut, but said he received a lot of support from his teammates.
“You’ve got to be nervous about your debut game. And we really wanted to get the tournament off with a win. But I had a lot of support, the boys were really good.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Musk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
2 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real speech. They claim free speech. The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
67 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
2 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
221 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
221 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
28 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
221 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
221 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to commentsEverywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
67 Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
28 Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
67 Go to commentsLove watching
1 Go to comments