Rugby-Livewire Nowell raring to kickstart England career

By Mitch Phillips BAGSHOT, England, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Just under a year ago 20-year-old Jack Nowell was in rugby heaven, having made his England debut, been an ever-present in the Six Nations, scoring his first try and seemingly set fair for a long international career. The livewire winger was also having a great time domestically as his unfashionable club Exeter continued to punch above their weight in the Premiership and even got a taste of the Heineken Cup. However, modern rugby has the habit of bringing such good fortune to a shuddering halt and barely a week after scoring his first try in England's thrashing of Italy, Nowell suffered a shoulder injury that brought his season to a premature end. Worse was to follow as he underwent surgery to fix a long-standing knee injury, ruling him out of England's tour of New Zealand. His recovery meant he also missed the start of the new season, ruling him out of the November internationals, and suddenly he was towards the back of a lengthy queue of wide men desperate to stake a lasting claim for the 11 or 14 shirt. When Jonny May roasted New Zealand's defence for a brilliant Twickenham try in November and Anthony Watson delivered man-of-the-match displays in this year's Six Nations, Nowell must have been wondering if he would ever get back. But a combination of good form for Exeter and defensive slips by May opened the door for a return in Sunday's potential championship decider in Dublin. "There have certainly been a lot of highs and lows for me in the last year," Nowell told Reuters at the team's training base on Friday. "The last Six Nations for me was massive. It felt like the start of what was to come so it was tough having decided to take the summer to get my knee right. "I think I probably could have carried on and gone to New Zealand for the tour but I think that was the best time to really concentrate on myself and my future really and try to get it sorted. "It was tough watching when you know that you have played with these guys and you could be out playing with them but was really about being 100 per cent fit." BIG PICTURE May, Watson, Marland Yarde, Ben Foden and even Manu Tuilagi were tried out wide in New Zealand as coach Stuart Lancaster juggled his options but Nowell was never out of the big picture. "Stuart says wing is the most competitive position at the moment," said Nowell, whose speciality is his uncanny ability to slip, spin, wriggle or burst his way out of tackles when seemingly held up. "I think everyone is on form and he said to me at the start of the week that there was a number of players that could slot back in there at the moment but it was the fact that I am playing well for Exeter at the moment. "They gave me that task to be consistent in the Premiership and playing well for my club and he said that was the most pleasing thing that I had listened and did that," added Nowell, who has added several kilos of muscle bulk in the last 12 months. Lancaster agreed. "We went for Jack because of the consistency of form for his club," he said. "He rarely makes an error, he's very good under the high ball, he's very good defensively and always beats a players one on one." That sort of strike ability makes Nowell a fans' favourite and adds to England's growing reputation of finally putting together a backline that can hurt teams with pace and panache rather than just pure power. "The likes of George Ford and Jonathan Joseph are obviously very dangerous players so to be actually behind them and knowing what they can bring on the field is very pleasing for me," Nowell said. "The way they played in Wales was massive for us and they looked very dangerous so I am very excited to be playing outside these guys." (Editing by:)