Jack Nowell’s new life in France sounds idyllic. Living on the millionaires’ island of Ile de Re, he drives across the bridge to training at La Rochelle, the reigning European champions, and glances at the shore where, during the winter, he fished out his surfboard and rode a few waves, as a heart-warming link with his upbringing in Cornwall. His kids aged five, three and one are gradually settling in – the eldest, Nori, keeps correcting his French accent.
All in all, the question of whether Nowell, who had to turn his back on adding to his 45 England caps to make this move, would recommend it to others, quickly seems superfluous.
“I would recommend it, 100 per cent,” Nowell tells i.
“I was lucky to play in England when English rugby was at an awesome stage, it was competitive and everything was going well. And it’s tough at the moment, English rugby is struggling. Losing three teams last season was horrible to see, a lot of my mates became jobless just like that.
“Stadiums not filling out like they used to, it’s tough to see. It’s very easy now for me to say I’ve moved over to France and we have packed-out stadiums, and it’s brilliant – because it is, it’s absolutely phenomenal, and it’s a shame that English rugby is not where it can be. I’m sure they are putting some things in place to make a change, because it can’t survive the way it’s going.”
Our conversation, funnily enough, takes place with Nowell not on the Atlantic coast of France, where the “yellow army” of La Rochelle have shot to prominence in recent years, but in Cape Town, where Nowell’s team face the Stormers in Saturday’s last-16 Champions Cup tie.
Defending the crown they won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023 has not been easy, while they stand fifth out of 14 in the French league. They had seven France players plus Will Skelton, Levani Botia, Joel Sclavi and UJ Seuteni away at the World Cup in the autumn. Nowell, a wing by preference, played in the centres at times as cover.
As he says: “I know from my time at Exeter, winning a trophy then trying to back it up the next year, it does add pressure. We were always going to have a massive boost when the World Cup players came back but maybe it took a little bit longer than we expected. I didn’t know any of them when I got here.”
But the Rochelais have clearly taken to their tattooed Cornish warrior.
“We do the road walk from the training ground to the stadium,” Nowell says, “and there’s thousands of fans cheering, and smoke and flares going off, and it’s pretty special and pretty awesome.”
Nowell will turn 31 next week. In February his La Rochelle contract was extended to 2027. At the start of this season he had a chat with Henry Arundell, 10 years his junior, who had just joined Racing 92 in Paris. A bunch of their former England team-mates including Owen Farrell, Courtney Lawes, Billy Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Jack Willis and Joe Marchant are either in France already, or going there next season.
The rule enforced by the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership means they can’t play for England while they’re gone. Nowell, whose final cap came against South Africa in November 2022, strokes his bearded chin and smiles.
“I sit on the fence to an extent. Would I still love to play for England? Certainly – it was one of the highlights of my career, pulling on that shirt, playing at Twickenham and in the Six Nations and going on summer tours, it was phenomenal.
“Would ‘ROG’ have signed me if he thought I would disappear with England for nine weeks for the Six Nations? We have an appeal for the French clubs because we are there for the full season and you could see a lot more players making that jump. Henry said he has come here to learn.
“The majority of the best players in the world are playing in the French league. At the same time, where would that leave England, where would that leave the Premiership – probably in an even worse position than it is now. So there’s a lot to go with that.”
‘ROG’ is of course Ronan O’Gara, La Rochelle’s Irish head coach; a popular, sometimes volatile figure. He had a one-match ban in December for criticising referees. Nowell, who donated a £10,000 fine for a critical tweet about a refereeing decision last season to Exeter Chiefs’ benevolent fund, has been getting on well with him.
“I class ‘ROG’ as still young, with lots of experience already, but still in a new generation of coaches. The family side of the club is massive for him. The first time I flew over, he said if your family aren’t settled and you need another week off training, that’s fine.
“Straight away, that put me at ease. And he is very straight with telling you exactly what he wants, whether you’ve had a good game and or a bad game. I’m learning a lot.”
Exeter could only offer a 25 per cent pay cut on Nowell’s last deal at Sandy Park, after keeping the wages up through the pandemic period, and reports have suggested he may have doubled his money in France.
The Chiefs have formed a new team without Nowell, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Simmonds and others who moved on from their 2020 double-winning squad. They play at Bath in the Champions Cup on Saturday at the same time as La Rochelle hope to get through to meet the winners of Leinster and Leicester in next week’s quarter-finals.
“I was never in doubt Exeter were going to prove a lot of people wrong,” Nowell says. “Rob [Baxter] and Ali [Hepher] had the structures in place, and a lot of the players have been there for years – they were kids when I was there.”
As for Nowell, after 2027, who knows? He wants to move back to Cornwall at some stage and has promised his old team Pirates Amateurs a season, even if it’s at 39. He has a stake in a couple of pubs – “I still have a say on the menu at The Swordfish” – and his position as a Red Bull athlete is ongoing, with their team in Austria providing assistance when he injured a hand earlier this season.
“My body is good, I think the heat makes a massive difference,” Nowell says. “At 34 years old, I’ll have a better understanding of what I need to do.
“Whether I move onto something else, or I stay at La Rochelle, we’ll see what happens. I’ve got some really good people around me, who want to look after me. I want to make the most of that for as long as I can.”
To find out more about Jack Nowell, head to his Red Bull athlete page
