Nowell issues England warning

By Mark Stevens
10/11/22

Vice-captain Jack Nowell has warned England need to cut out making the same mistakes or it will come back to bite them in next year’s Guinness Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.

Nowell’s remarks came in the wake of England’s 30-29 defeat at home to Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday.

It was a sixth defeat in ten for Eddie Jones’ side and Exeter Chiefs star Nowell says lessons need to be learnt quickly, starting with this weekend’s latest Autumn International against Japan.

Talking to BBC 5 Live, the Cornishman said: "The frustrating thing from the weekend is they are the same messages we have been saying over the past year or so.

"Scotland away [in February], the penalty count lost us the game. Australia first Test [in July], the penalty count let them back into the game. These are the lessons we need to be learning and learning quite quickly.

"Before we know it we will come into the Six Nations and you can't lose a game then to kick yourself forward. It's the same in the World Cup, you can't be losing games in your group. We need to start learning now."

Nowell was one of four Chiefs players, the others being Luke Cowan-Dickie, Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds, to feature against the Pumas and the quartet have been retained by Jones for this weekend’s clash.

The 29-year-old, who has taken increased leadership responsibilities this campaign, says a meeting at the start of the week has helped clear the air before Saturday's crunch game with Japan at Twickenham.

"It is always a concern, but we aren't looking at each other thinking why aren't we winning these games - we know why we are not winning," he explained. "So it's up to us players to own it a little bit more, but we had some good conversations about it yesterday with a few boys holding their hands up knowing that it's not good enough for the team."

Meanwhile, Nowell says England cannot afford to take Japan lightly, as was the case the last time the teams met in 2018. England trailed the Blossoms 15-10 at half-time before rallying to win 35-15, although the likes of Zach Mercer and Alex Lozowski haven't played for their country since.

Japan went on to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in 2019, taking the scalps of Scotland and Ireland in the process.

"A lot of things happened in that first half and maybe as a team we didn't give Japan the respect they deserve," said Nowell, who started at outside-centre that day.

"You have got to give them the respect and [you can't] let them play the way they want to play - which is pretty much what we did in the first half. But at the same time it is not about just trying to cope with what they have got, it's about letting them cope with what we've got.

"We can't just wait for the scoreboard [to be against us] - we have to be brave enough to have a go."