JACK NOWELL UP CLOSE
Jack and the sea
Jack Nowell’s father, Michael, is a trawlerman who runs a fleet of three boats out of Penzance. However, Jack admits, “I’ve never been out on the boat (fishing) with my dad. I’m the first Nowell not to carry on the fishing trade. I think my dad’s a little disappointed, but obviously he’s more than happy with what I’m doing now – and my brothers are going to follow me as well, maybe.”
The sub-plot is that his mother, Louisa, did not want her son – who as a youngster sometimes feared for his dad’s safety – to work at sea.
When Nowell first broke into the England team he gave this explanation: “I used to wind up my mum by saying, ‘I think I’ll go to sea with dad next week’. She used to have a go at me every time. ‘I’m not letting you go, that’s your dad, you’re different’.
“I’ve only been out on the boat once, when my uncle passed away, and we all went out on my old man’s trawler to spread his ashes.”
Jack’s love of Lego
Nowell shares his love of Lego with celebrities like actor Brad Pitt, singer Will.i.am, and footballer David Beckham. He also has a kindred spirit in fellow Lions wing George North – but he says he’s not sharing.
He explains: “I build maybe two or three things each (England) camp, and I’m hoping there will be a bit of spare room in my suitcase to take down a few boxes to NZ. I’ve got a whole Simpsons house to be built, but I think that’s going to be too big. I’ve got a nice little VW Beetle to go with the VW campervan I made in the Six Nations. I tend just to do Lego (rather than other models) – it’s helped me through injuries in the past, and I stick to that.”
On Lego-bonding with North he says: “It could be good, but we will have to get the same box-sets because I don’t like sharing. He will probably be the same – you can’t share a programme, you won’t know what you’ve done, or what you’re doing next.
Jack the Cornish Lion
Nowell says: “A few bigger men have done it like Phil Vickery and Stack Stevens – a lot bigger than I am. We’re a proud county of rugby down there, and sometimes (Cornish) players have not been recognised for what they do, or what they can do. So, to be picked and follow those guys is pretty awesome. When we went to Australia with England last summer, there were a few Cornish flags out there then, so it will be nice to see a few in NZ as well.”