Title celebrations cut short as Exeter's Jack Nowell turns attention to Lions

28 May 2017 10:09

Jack Nowell woke up as an Aviva Premiership title winner on Sunday - and then caught a taxi from Devon to London for the start of another great rugby adventure.

England wing Nowell, who scored Exeter's opening try in a pulsating 23-20 victory over Wasps that was only decided after 20 minutes of extra-time, barely had time to celebrate before switching his thoughts from domestic glory to British and Irish Lions business in New Zealand as the squad assembled a day ahead of departure.

But he did not intend missing the moment, briefly heading back to Exeter with his team-mates to savour a first Premiership crown in the club's 146-year history.

"I wanted to enjoy it with the boys, because at the end of the day it means so much to all of us," Nowell said.

"Times like this don't come around too often. For us to actually lift the main trophy in England, I am going to enjoy it and make the most of it, then all my focus is on going away on tour and trying to get one of those Test shirts.

"I had a taxi booked for 7am, and as soon as I was on that taxi ride it was thinking about what is ahead of me - that I am going to get the chance, maybe, of playing for the Lions.

"That is any rugby player's dream. It is a complete switch, a completely different mentality with a different team, and I want to make the most of it and go for one of those shirts."

Exeter responded to losing last season's Premiership final against Saracens by digging deep for a dramatic win that was secured by skipper Gareth Steenson's 97th-minute penalty.

It stretched their unbeaten Premiership run to a record-equalling 17 games, with Bath the last side to beat them in a league match seven months ago.

"It's massive, not just for Exeter or Devon, but for Cornwall as well," Nowell added.

"The amount of people that make the trip up to Sandy Park week in, week out, and the amount of people that were there on Saturday shows that the support we have is probably one of the best in the Premiership.

"I think it is all about the journey for us. There were pictures and stuff going out on Friday about how many years ago (seven) we were promoted to the Premiership, and it is all about that journey.

"It's down to our hard work, which we have been doing all year. Steeno always says it may take 80, 90 or 100 minutes, and we back ourselves. For us to finish the season like we did makes it extra special."

Nowell admitted the loss to Saracens 12 months ago had been a motivation on their Twickenham return, and he also underlined the importance of a regrouping session after French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne flattened Exeter 35-8 in a European Champions Cup game last October.

"Rob Baxter's (Exeter head coach) words at half-time were that it was all in our hands," Nowell said. "We could sit back and think about last year, but it was all about that last push.

"Fair play to Wasps, they are a dangerous side and showed exactly what they're about, but credit goes to us boys for sticking in there.

"We could have lost our heads in that game, we could have let our heads go down, but we didn't. We carried it on for the whole game and it showed how much it meant to us at the end.

"We sat down after Clermont and we said 'this isn't us, we are dwelling too much on what's happened'.

"We almost expected things to happen but we didn't change training, we didn't change the way we played, we didn't change the team drastically. It was just about us going out there and playing attacking rugby.

"The second half of the season was about us going out and actually grabbing it."

Source: PA