SIX NATIONS SPECIAL
Sir Clive Woodward’s view
THERE are few clues in Ben Earl’s living room in north London to suggest that he is a professional rugby player. In fact, the only thing on display is a polythene bag filled with 1,250 two-pence coins that he brought back from training.
The money was handed over by Saracens and England team-mate Mako Vunipola after winning a £25 bet that Arsenal would beat Manchester United.
‘ That’s Mako for you,’ he says with a laugh.
Earl may be England’s next breakthrough star but his interests are far broader than the archetypal sportsman.
Rather than computer games and rugby jerseys, his shelves are stacked with books and vinyl records of artists such as Paul Simon and The Beatles.
During an hour in his company, he discusses religion and his degree in comparative literature as much as he picks apart tackle counts and breakdowns.
‘The Odyssey and Omeros,’ he says, picking out two books from his collection. ‘These were the texts from my dissertation. It was basically on ancient Greek poetry and its Caribbean presence. We went on holiday to the Caribbean when I was younger so it’s a place I’ve always been interested in.
‘It’s important to do something away from rugby and somehow I ended up with a 2:1.
‘Seeing what happened to Michael Fatialofa, who ended up in hospital when we played Worcester recently, gives you a kick up the backside that it’ s important to have something to fall back on. In the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to go into CME [Chicago Mercantile Exchange] to do a bit of foreign exchange and see if I like it. A lot of my school mates do it and it sounds pretty brutal.’
Any work experience in the City will have to wait. With No 8 Billy Vunipola injured, Earl has been tipped to be fast-tracked into England’ s back-row for next Sunday’s Six Nations opener against France, challenging Lewis Ludlam for the jersey. He is currently reading Rachel Cusk’s novel, Transit, which should eat up some travel time en route to Paris.
During a season dominated by the salary cap scandal, Earl has been one of the few good news stories at Saracens, following the likes of Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Jamie George through the academy.
Speaking on the eve of the club’s relegation decision, he vowed the players would ‘stick together’. Earl has always been a high achiever so it is little surprise that a host of clubs are hoping to sign him on loan next season.
Earl discusses his rise to Eddie Jones’ Six Nations squad. In the background, TV cricket commentary can be heard. England are playing South Africa. Earl occasionally glances at the screen to check up on the run rate of Zak Crawley, with whom he played age group cricket for Kent.
‘ We used to play against Sam Curran and Ollie Pope, who are in the England team, too,’ he says. ‘I was a bowler who could pinch hit a little bit, but when I turned 17 I saw a bit more of a pathway in rugby than cricket. The day after my school leavers’ ball I moved into the Saracens academy house and ended up living with guys like Nick Isiekwe and Max Malins. Most of us had never cooked a meal in our lives so it was a proper learning curve. The kitchen was littered with egg yolk and fish oils!
‘It was the first time we’d lived on our own. We spent most of our money on booze and Ladbrokes — until the S& C[ strength and conditioning] coaches got savvy to the lifestyle we used to live.
‘ We would often speak about, “What did George Kruis do? What did Owen Farrell do? What did Jamie George do?” You have to compare yourself in some ways but you also have to put your own print on it.’
That is exactly what Earl has done. This season he has made more metres, turnovers and tackles t han a ny o f England’s o t her challengers for the No 8 jersey. He grew up idolising Wallaby No 7 Michael Hooper but is equally comfortable packing down at the back of the scrum.
‘I’d like to think the penny has dropped this year to a certain extent,’ he says. ‘I went through a tough year when I wasn’t playing very well, seeing guys like Nick getting picked by England. You
realise that everything clicks at different times. Moving into my own place helped. There are no external factors here and you can do exactly what you want. You can chill out and eat the right things. You don’t go for that one beer that ends up with you getting home at 3am.
‘Living in London is a nice touch, too. A happy medium. I’d like to go to a few more gigs if I can. I went to see Post Malone recently and just chilled at the back.’
Earl has already had a taste of the England set-up. He wore the No 8 jersey in the same age group team as World Cup star Tom Curry, before being taken on tour to South Africa in 2018 as one of Jones’ apprentices.
‘I remember my first meeting with Eddie,’ he recalls. ‘Coming into Pennyhill, I had a text from the team manager saying, “Eddie will see you in the bar at X o’clock”. I walk over and he was like, “You’re playing soft and you’re not doing the stuff that we require”. I walked away feeling like I was the worst rugby player in the world! I was sharing a room with Chris Robshaw and he said, “He does that to me and I’ve played 50 Tests”, so that made me feel slightly better.
‘It was a great learning curve. I was very ignorant and naive at that age, thinking it’s all about the great turnover at the end of the game, the great try, the great hit.
‘ Eddie instilled in me in that it’s the simple things you have to do really, really well. You’ve got to be prepared to take a bit of constructive criticism. It’s a highpressure environment but it brings the best out of you.’
The next few weeks will gauge whether Earl is ready for the pressure. He is one of eight uncapped players to join the squad, hoping to make an impression. Jones is ready to hit the reset button after last year’s World Cup in Japan, with France 2023 now becoming part of the dialogue.
‘England has always been that light at the end of the tunnel that you really want to get to but you have to take it week by week because, if you have a few bad games for your club, then people are questioning your shirt,’ says Earl.
‘There are a lot of young guys in the back-row — you mention Sam Underhill, the Curry brothers, Alex Dombrandt, Lewis Ludlam, Sam Simmonds, Jack Willis — and hopefully we all push each other on but four years is a long time. I’m 22 now but by the time the World Cup comes around I’ll be 26 and there’ll be another 22-year-old that’s coming through.
‘Rugby is a fickle game — flavours of the month, people change, so let’s see what happens.’