Lone Bath star Ewels targets England place
CHARLIE Ewels, Bath’s only forward representative in England’s autumn selection, aims to complete a meteoric rise to stardom by winning a place in the squad to face South Africa.
Ewels, 21, capped a fine breakthrough season at Bath by touring Springbok country with the Saxons in June, impressing alongside club mate Dave Attwood in the engine room as Ali Hepher’s side clinched a 2-0 series victory.
The Bournemouth-born enforcer is now targeting the next step, telling TRP: “I was delighted to make it into the EPS but for me that’s not the end goal, I want to play for England now and the way to do that is by working hard.
“There’s a long way to go – 45 players don’t go into a starting XV – but I enjoyed that Saxons tour and I’m doing everything I can to develop my game.
“Last season I played more than I’d expected for Bath and the Saxons tour was a bonus, but it really opened my eyes to different ways of playing. To go away and have some influence from other players and coaches was beneficial.
“I was fortunate to play age-group rugby for England and played against South Africa at U18s and U20s, so you know what you’re going to get when you play their teams and there’s no bigger ‘man’ test than playing against them.
“England’s second row competition is fierce, but I’d love another crack at South Africa and to do that I’ll need to play well for Bath.”
Ewels has been doing just that for a Bath outfit that has belied last season’s shocking form – and the summer sacking of rugby director Mike Ford – by winning five of their opening six league games to be lying third in the Premiership.
Ewels said: “It’s been a spot-on start and as a group we took ownership of things in pre-season, with Todd Blackadder and Tabai Matson coming in late – but they set a strategy and the boys bought into it and helped develop our game from there.
“Last season wasn’t nice and it hurt, but you learn lessons and there’s no point looking back and comparing things to what happened then. This season’s all been about focusing week-byweek and working hard to do ourselves justice.
“We’re a quarter of the way through the Premiership and we’ve set a great foundation for the rest of the season. It’s a great position to be in and, hopefully, two good weeks in Europe will springboard us into the next block of games.”
That Ewels feels ready to challenge himself at Test level owes everything to tutelage he received from Bath stalwarts Danny Grewcock and Stuart Hooper,
right, two of the finest exponents of second row play in Premiership history. Of Grewcock, now rugby director at Oundle School, Ewels said: “Danny was my rugby director coming through Bath’s academy and he taught me how to be a professional rugby player. “He did it all in terms of playing for Bath, England and the Lions and I was like a sponge soaking up his massive experience.
“I remember being quite daunted before my first game at the Rec, but he told me that whenever he had a big game he’d give himself 15 seconds or so after running out to do a 360 and take everything in.
“Once he’d done that it was down to business and that’s one of the many little things Danny taught me during his time at Bath.
“Then to play with Stuart Hooper provided so much learning from a leadership and lineout perspective. Nobody worked harder on his game than Stuart.”