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'No World Cup': Jack Nowell rules himself out of England selection

(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Exeter’s Jack Nowell has declared himself unavailable for World Cup training squad selection with England, the Top 14-bound winger explaining how it is best for him and his family to instead make the move across the Channel in July rather than compete for a place in Steve Borthwick’s squad.

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The 30-year-old, who was part of the squad that reached the 2019 final under Eddie Jones, won his 45th England cap when appearing off the bench last November against the Springboks.

However, with Jones replaced as head coach by Steve Borthwick the following month, Nowell was excluded from the Guinness Six Nations campaign and he has now decided not to put himself forward to try and earn a World Cup recall.

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Asked on the latest RugbyPass Offload show what his summer plans were now that he was leaving Exeter and heading most likely to La Rochelle, Nowell said: “No World Cup, I’m not doing the World Cup. I am just going to chill. I need to get my knee sorted. Obviously, it was a bit of a hard decision not to put myself in for selection for the World Cup. I thought it was probably one I had to make for myself and for my family as well.

“We are going to make the most of being back home in Cornwall, we will probably spend the next few weeks there and we have got a testimonial tournament at Sandy Park on June 3 which Red Bull are going to take care of it for us.”

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Quizzed further about the reason why he has called it quits with England rather than fight for a place in the 2023 RWC squad, Nowell continued: “Eddie leaving and Steve coming in. I was in contact at the start with Steve and he let me know I wasn’t going to be involved in the Six Nations which was completely fair enough. New coach, new ideas.

“There comes a stage where everyone has got to make a decision about the team, so I was happy with that. It was pretty cool – it was my last year at the club anyway, so I really get to focus on trying to do the best I can for the club and trying to get us into the big games at the end of the season.

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“Like I have said, I didn’t have a lot of communication with Steve. To be honest, I didn’t have a lot, so you come to that stage where you are, ‘Right, probably that ship has sailed on me now in terms of the England stuff’.

“The boys did very well in the Six Nations that were playing on the wing and there does come a stage where you do have to start thinking about your family and thinking about your future and stuff like that. I had these opportunities to speak to other clubs and discuss my future. When you do sign abroad, or you do sign anywhere you do get an option to sign pre-World Cup or post-World Cup.

“For me, I made that decision then that it was probably best for my family and myself to sign the contract pre-World Cup. I’m sure it would be a bit different it was I was talking to Steve all the time. Since then, I have spoken to Steve, I had to let him know my decision because I think I was in plans for the World Cup, especially the first get-together as a big squad.

“But I made a decision not to do that and to make sure my family get settled in France and make sure I get settled in France so I get to go to my new club and be the best I can and win some more trophies. As much as I would have liked to have done this one and given it a good crack, sometimes you have to read between the lines and probably understand you are probably not in the coach’s favour.

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“Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to have fought for my position, I would love to have got myself back into playing but family comes first for me, and I had to make sure they are looked after first.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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