'The size of the guys – if your technique is poor, you get found out'
Charlie John Ewels doesn’t hide the fact that he harbours hopes of making the England World Cup squad.
However, he also knows there is a long, hard slog ahead to get into the kind of shape that will put him in the selection frame.
The 31-times capped international has taken a very unconventional route of going ‘on loan’ to the Bulls in Pretoria to get some much-needed game time.
Ewels underwent surgery after he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament in a training ground mishap while on tour with England in Australia last year – preparing for their first Test against the Wallabies in June.
With the English Premiership season coming to a close, playing opportunities were extremely limited and he started looking around.
He said that his ‘unique’ circumstances required him to go out on loan and he spoke to several clubs.
“The big reason [I decided on coming to Pretoria] is that [Bulls Director Rugby] Jake White’s son [Wesley White] plays at Bath,” Ewels said. “It was quite an easy way to get hold of Jake and it happened very quickly,” he said, adding that he is ‘loving’ it at Loftus Versfeld.
He said getting back into the England frame is on his wish list.
“It would be lying if I say that was not a dream of mine,” he said about his desire to be in the frame for England’s World Cup squad.
“I have spoken to Steve Borthwick a little bit,” he told @rugby365com, adding that the conversations were not around selection issues.
“It has been around my game,” the 27-year-old second row forward said.
Having been sidelined for the better part of nine months, he has played only about 120 minutes of rugby since his arrival in Pretoria.
“There is a 100 different things I want to work on. We [Borthwick and I] have been speaking a little bit around my game – around my carrying, my tackles, the little bits and pieces of my game and trying to move those things forward.”
Ewels said he was not putting pressure on himself to reach specific goals and deadlines.
“I have come back into the game at a level,” the lock – known for his line-out and defensive skills – said Ewels. “I just want to see myself improving each week and so far that has been happening.
“That is as far as I can control things.”
He said the goal of his rehabilitation process while in South Africa is that he wants to push beyond the level he was at before the injury.
“I feel like I am, physically, a better athlete than I was before I got injured,” he told @rugby365com. “Now it is about getting the rugby back, pushing that to the best rugby I ever played.
“How long that will take I don’t know.
“What I can control is making sure each week it is better than it was the week before.”
He said the brutally physical nature of the Currie Cup will benefit him in all aspects of the contact area.
“The athletes in this [Currie Cup] competition, the size of the guys – if your technique is poor, you get found out straight away.
“Your height in the carry, your height at the breakdown, and your technique around the tackle are the things I am learning most about my game.
“That is what this competition is giving me and that is perfect.
“The nine months that I have not been able to play, then I get thrown in at the deep end in this competition and I have to learn very quickly.”
Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
128 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
128 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
128 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
128 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
128 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
128 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
128 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
128 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
128 Go to commentsHo hum.
128 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
128 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
128 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
128 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
128 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
128 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
128 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
128 Go to comments