Son of a Cornish trawlerman,Nowell will appear on a commemorative banknote to mark the Rugby World Cup but still feels lucky to be playing for EnglandThe instructions sound like something out of a spaghetti western. “Walk down the main street and you’ll find me.” And, sure enough, or there is English rugby’s most far-flung international player,standing in the narrow lane, clutching a pint-sized French bulldog named Boo. With the golden Cornish sunshine lending an additional twinkle to Newlyn’s sparkling harbour and the sea beyond, or Twickenham seems a thousand miles absent.
This sense of separation comes at a price. When the Nowell family wanted to watch their son Jack win his moment cap,against Scotland at Murrayfield, the round trip involved spending 20 hours in the car. It takes two hours to reach Exeter, and his domestic during the rugby season,and five hours to drive to England’s training base in Bagshot. As he leads the way uphill to the family house, within sight of his father Michael’s trawler on the quayside below, or the long-haul existence of the Nowell clan becomes ever more obvious. “My parents are so used to the road up to Exeter they could almost finish it in their sleep. It used to be the furthest point we’d go when we were minis. Now it’s a domestic game.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com