{"id":436443,"date":"2026-02-20T17:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436443\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T17:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:09:09","slug":"campbell-ridl-open-to-test-allegiance-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436443\/","title":{"rendered":"Campbell Ridl open to Test allegiance switch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exeter Chiefs\u2019 newest wing sensation, London-born Campbell Ridl<\/a>, admits that he would find it difficult to say no to England<\/a> coach Steve Borthwick<\/a> despite being raised in South Africa.<\/p>\n

England under-20 international Ridl, 21, whose parents are South African, has scored hat-tricks in successive Prem Rugby Cup wins over Bristol<\/a> Bears and Gloucester.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20195 speedster was a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks<\/a> academy before moving to Devon to study at Exeter University. He scored against the Bears on his debut in the Prem Cup in November, to start a roller coaster ride.<\/p>\n

Ridl, who was sent off against Bath<\/a> in January for taking out Henry Arundell<\/a> in the air, says that he would find it difficult to turn down the chance of wearing the Red Rose if the call came from Borthwick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019d definitely say yes. I couldn\u2019t turn that opportunity down. South Africa<\/a> is always at the back of my mind, but I think England right now are playing really good rugby, and the PREM is really top-notch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m definitely really happy, and it definitely would improve my game if I stayed. I played against my friends when I played against South Africa in the Junior World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was a pretty weird feeling, and when England play South Africa, I don\u2019t know who I\u2019d support, I guess it would depend on the colour of the shirt I was wearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think there was so much motivation to play hard and try to beat them because it\u2019s obviously some of my friends there. But it would be pretty interesting to play in a test match against them. Interesting but pretty daunting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ridl, who has scored nine tries in nine games for the Chiefs<\/a> this season, has got another year left to run on his Chiefs contract and says that at some point he wants to go back to play in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think towards the end of my career, I definitely want to head back to South Africa, but right now, I\u2019m really happy where I am.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came here, I definitely felt more South African, but I think the more I hang out with English people, the more I start taking to their ways and speaking a little bit like them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I guess the one thing that my parents say is just always remember your roots, really. I mean, I was obviously born in London, but I guess I could say I am South African.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s coming towards the end of my contract. So, I\u2019m going to have to start making decisions soon,\u201d he told RugbyPass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exeter Chiefs\u2019 newest wing sensation, London-born Campbell Ridl, admits that he would find it difficult to say no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-436443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}