Nowell signs new deal

By Mark Stevens

Jack Nowell admits he is looking forward to an exciting period ahead after he today put pen to paper on a new contract that will keep him at Exeter Chiefs until 2017.

The England international is the latest high profile name to commit his future to the Aviva Premiership club, following the lead of team-mates including skipper Dean Mumm, Sam Hill, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Dave Ewers.

The decision of the Cornishman to prolong his stay at Sandy Park is no doubt a huge boost to Chiefs’ head coach Rob Baxter, who has made no secret of his desire to keep hold of the club’s blossoming, homegrown talent.

An excited Nowell said: “Everything has been going really well for me at the club, so it would be silly not for me to sign the contract.  Ever since I joined, the club have always looked after me and helped me to progress to where I am now. Yes, I’ve had a few troubles with my knee over the years, but the club have managed me really well and knew what was best for me. I had a bit of time off at the start of the season just gone and now they are helping me a lot with my knee after having the operation. From a playing side, though, they have brought me to the top of my game and they gave me that chance when I was younger to go out and perform and really put the trust in me.”

Nowell’s rise both for club and country has certainly been impressive and with the 21-year-old keen to push on yet further, he knows featuring strongly for the Chiefs will help enhance his claims for a spot within Stuart Lancaster’s England squad for next year’s Six Nations and Rugby World Cup campaigns.

“Last year I would ideally liked to have had more Premiership games under my belt, but I think with this summer and not going on tour or playing the Barbarians, it's going to allow me to get on top of my knee issues,” explained Nowell. “I’ve had the operation, which went really well, and now I'm fully focused on getting myself fit and raring to go for next season. For me, I'm really looking forward to starting well and hopefully playing through and doing enough then to hopefully be part of Stuart's plans for England.”

Certainly Nowell has shown that he is more than capable of delivering at the top end of the game, featuring in all five of England’s Six Nations games this season and scoring his maiden international try in the away win over Italy in Rome.

Together with the likes of Cowan-Dickie, Hill, Ewers and Slade, the emergence of Exeter’s young English talent is something that is given Chiefs supporters plenty of reason to be cheerful moving forward.

“It's been brilliant for a whole group of us coming through together,” added Nowell. “As I've said before, step by step we're all making big strides. I knew when I signed my first contract with the academy the coaches [Rob and Ali] told me the club was going places and that they wanted to back the young boys, which they have done.

"They have done it not just with me, but with Sladey, Hill, Dickie and Dave Ewers. Three of those guys are playing the Barbarians this weekend and Dickie is going to New Zealand on tour with England, so it's just shows they are backing us here and if you're playing well at club level, Stuart will be looking at you for international level as well.”

And with such talent already on board at the Chiefs for next season, Nowell is confident the Westcountry club can build on this season’s LV= Cup success and position themselves further as a leading club within the English game.

“The club is moving up every year,” continued Nowell. “We won the LV= Cup this season and before that we qualified for the Heineken twice. Initially moving into the Premiership was massive and then staying there was another big positive, but each year we seem to have added bits and pieces to our game and moved on a level. I think another big part of the club is the World Cup next year, that's massive and for us to be holding some games here is just awesome.”