Young gun Nowell out to be box office hit
ENGLAND will hope that Jack Nowell can be their baby-faced assassin in Paris tomorrow — after he suffered the indignity of being barred from the cinema because he didn’t look 18.
The 20-year-old Exeter wing will make his Test debut against France tomorrow and the youngster will be expected to do a man’s job in withstanding a battering from the hosts’ giant ball-carriers.
Yet, he explained yesterday — after his call-up to the starting XV was confirmed — how his boyish features had led to an awkward episode on Wednesday evening.
Nowell, Exeter flanker Tom Johnson and Sale prop Henry Thomas made a short journey from the team hotel in Surrey to watch a film, but the outing didn’t go entirely to plan.
‘ It was quite funny,’ said Nowell, looking sheepish. ‘ We went to the cinema yesterday to watch the The Wolf of Wall Street. I was really excited going in and I was with Tom Johnson and Henry (Thomas). ‘They got their tickets first and I was going to pay for mine but the woman said, “I am sorry, I am going to have to ask for your ID”.
‘ I did check it was an 18 rating, I thought, “This better not be a 15”! I looked at TJ and started panicking because I didn’t have any ID on me.
‘I said we were going to have to go back to the hotel to get my passport so we watched the one an hour later with the passport in my pocket!’
Nowell certainly didn’t feel he could play the ‘don’t-you-know-who-I-am’ card, before playing for England, adding: ‘I don’t see myself as a big, top international player.
‘I am still young and have a lot to learn. The fact that it is going to happen for me this weekend is massive, but I won’t really want my friends or family to treat me any differently to what I was when I was younger.’
While his down- to- earth response to being thrust into the England team so early in his career is heartening, Nowell already knows that life will never be the same again.
Back at home, his family is already coming to terms with his rocketing profile.
‘It is pretty big,’ he said. ‘I had some pictures sent to me from The Cornishman, the local paper down there and there is a front page and back page with my face on it.
‘My little brother was on the front page as well and I think he was more excited about that. It was a little bit embarrassing for me because I have got all my friends now giving me a little bit of stick!’
As the Nowell clan prepared to head from Cornwall to Paris en masse for Jack’s debut appearance, he added: ‘I am very excited.
‘The smile hasn’t come off my face, but I have tried to play it cool and try not to think about it too much because I don’t want to get myself too worked up for the game.’
England are not alone in turning to players with little or no Test experience for such a seismic encounter.
France will send out a raw half-back tomorrow, with Stade Francais No 10 Jules Plisson (below) — chosen for his debut ahead of the more established Francois Trinh-Duc — joining forces with scrum- half Jean- Marc Doussain of Toulouse, who has just a solitary cap to his name.
Up front, in the second row, Alexandre Flanquart has been preferred to Yoann Maestri and will win his third cap alongside the home captain, Pascal Pape.
Explaining his half- back selection, head coach Philippe Saint- Andre said: ‘Jules Plisson was the obvious choice as he only played 10 minutes with Stade Francais last Friday and we did a full session with him at No 10, while Francois Trinh - Duc only started training on Monday. ‘And Jean-Marc Doussain (who also plays at fly- half) has worked at 9 last week.’