Exeter Chiefs back-rower Ethan Roots remains hopeful of a possible England recall, following a ‘hard’ year away from the Test stage.
The New Zealand-native won all four of his Test caps for Steve Borthwick’s side during the 2024 Six Nations, but has not featured since their dramatic win over Ireland during that Championship.
In the time since, Roots was named in the wider 33-man touring party to Japan and New Zealand, as well as an initial mini-camp ahead of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series, but has since been omitted from the senior squad.
‘It’s about proving it to myself that I wasn’t just a one-time fluke’
While he has had to bide his time out of the Test spotlight, Roots has been a standout performer for Exeter in the early stages of the new season, form which earned him a call into the England A squad in November, and he is hoping further good performances will see him back in the senior squad sooner rather than later.
“It’s a no-brainer, I’d love to be back involved,” he said. “It was hard not being involved last year, but I can see the reasons why.
“But I think I’m putting myself in the right position to at least ask some questions and push for a jersey. I’ll just keep chipping away here and hopefully get a call at some point. Fingers crossed, I get a chance to prove myself again.
“It’s why everyone plays rugby, and I’m here to play international rugby. That’s been my goal from the start. Lots of people have written me off from an early stage, and I always thought it would be nice to prove them wrong.
“Now it’s about proving it to myself that I wasn’t just a one-time fluke and show my worth.”
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While Roots might be getting back to the form that initially earned him a spot in Borthwick’s starting XV, he faces an unenviable challenge to get back into the senior group.
The back-row is by far England’s strongest positional area at this current moment in time. Ben Earl, Sam Underhill and Tom Curry have been stalwarts for Borthwick throughout his time as head coach, while Chandler Cunningham-South, Guy Pepper, Henry Pollock and Ben Curry have emerged as key components of the 23-man match-day squad in recent times.
Around that, too, the likes of Ted Hill, Alex Dombrandt, Jack Kenningham, Tom Pearson, Will Evans and even Exeter colleague Greg Fisilau are also looking to earn their spot back in Borthwick’s squad.
“There’s an EPS (England playing squad), and I’m not a part of that at the moment,” Roots admitted. “That’s a wider squad, not just the one that comes in (to camp). I don’t know exactly where I sit, but all I can do is churn out good performances here, and hopefully that will come.
“There’s a plethora of loose forwards in the PREM, so he (Borthwick) hasn’t got an easy job of picking, but I’d like to think I’m putting my hand up each week and showing I’ve got the worth.”
‘He just has to carry on with how he is doing’
His words also follow a previous showing of support from Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter, who insists he has to just carry on with what he’s doing right now to get back into contention.
“I think he just has to carry on with how is doing (to get back in the squad),” Baxter said back in October.
“He’s worked extremely hard in pre-season, he’s a key member of the squad, he’s driving all the correct messages on how we want to play and turn up, and then he’s following through with it himself on the field.
“He’s playing with great physicality and great discipline at the same time, which is tough to achieve.
“That puts him back in the eye (of Steve Borthwick), and I don’t think it’ll be long before you see him there or thereabouts if he carries on the trajectory he’s on.”
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