NATHAN EARLE, Harlequins highly-rated winger, is powering up his bid for a long-awaited first England cap after proving he has the mental strength to succeed.
An England U20s World Cup winner in 2014, Earle has twice overcome career-threatening injuries to prove his worth at the highest level, the latest being a complicated ACL tear in April 2019 which, combined with Covid, caused a frustrating 16-month layoff.
However, a successful return to action in August prefaced a call by England boss Eddie Jones for his side’s initial Autumn Nations Cup training camp, bringing fresh hope of national honours for 26-year-old Earle, whose determination to conquer is undimmed.
Earle told The Rugby Paper: “I did the first training camp in October and it was brilliant to be back in that environment after a two-year absence and good to be with Eddie again.
“Any time in that environment is valuable and it puts me in a bit of a position now where I’m back on his radar and, if I play well, I can finally get that first cap.
“That’s the aim and it’s about concentrating on my own game, playing to the best of my ability and, hopefully, that will put me up Eddie’s pecking order.”
After suffering a ruptured Achilles on loan to Bedford in 2014 that stymied his early promise, last year’s injury against Northampton was doubly hard to take.
Earle recalls: “It was very much deja vu but this latest one was really difficult, way worse than when I did my Achilles a few years ago. It ended up being quite complicated because it wasn’t just one thing that I’d injured. I’d damaged a few things in my knee so it required a different approach to my rehab than what would have been typical for a standard ACL.
“I’d like to think my mental strength got me through. I knew, getting stretchered off, that I was in for a long one because of the pain I was in. You’re not in that pain for nothing and the first 24 hours was pretty dark for me. But after that I thought, ‘I’ve been here before, I’ve done it and got through it’, so I was confident I could do it again.
“I was also lucky to have a really good support system around me. Just as I did my injury, me and my fiancée, Sophie, were organising things to move in together so, while it wasn’t ideal, at least I had someone with me and wasn’t doing stuff on my own.”
Earle added: “She’s been brilliant the whole way through and pretty invaluable to be honest, plus I’ve been really happy with the medical attention from Harlequins. They did everything above and beyond what they needed to do to ensure I could play again.
“Paul Gustard has been so supportive, too. I signed a two-year contract under John Kingston but Gussy wanted to keep me longer and offered me a new deal, so that’s a brilliant statement from him which gives you confidence in knowing that you’re valued.”
After suffering a humbling opening day 33-3 home defeat to Exeter, Quins bounced back in style last week at Northampton, where Earle helped create and finish a fine team score for his first try of the season, providing a reminder of his international class.
Harlequins visit Gloucester today aiming to double-up and Earle said: “I thought the Exeter result flattered Exeter because we had a good 65-70 minutes and it was only at the end, when their maul got on top, that they showed why they are champions.
“In regards to Northampton last week, everything went right for us and we managed to play some champagne rugby, which is what we want to do. But that came off the back of a lot of hard work from the forwards and doing the unglamourous stuff first.
“We’ve spoken about that and we want to back it up now.
“Gloucester are coming off the back of a really strong performance as well but we want to be a consistent side who can win home or away, so we want to go there and put in another good display.”
For Earle, today represents another opportunity to apply pressure to other England wing wannabes like Joe Cokanasiga, Ollie Thorley and Ben Loader, below left.
He added: “I wasn’t as happy as I’d have liked with my form after we restarted in August and I came back from my layoff. There was probably a bit of rust, allied to trying a bit too hard and not just letting the game come to me as I should have.
“Last weekend against Northampton, though, it was the best I’ve felt since my injury and I just want to keep concentrating on my own strengths now.”
NEALE HARVEY
