Ethan Roots Relishing Second Season as a Chief

You could easily describe the 2023/24 season as a breakthrough one for Exeter Chiefs back rower Ethan Roots as he made his Premiership and international debut but he’s setting his sights higher as he looks excitedly towards his second season in Devon.

When a 25-year-old Roots walked into Sandy Park for the very first time ahead of pre-season last year, he couldn’t have foreseen that in just 12 months’ time he would have become one of the most combative forwards in the domestic league and an England international.

His signing announced in the summer, Roots described it as life-long dream to play in the Premiership. Now, here he sits, with 15 league appearances in a first season full of memories in the Chiefs shirt.

“Those first few Premiership games for me were pretty surreal, for lack of a better word. Putting so many points on Saracens, a tough away game at Harlequins then putting Sale to the sword – that was all my first experience of the league.

“Those first games will be highlights of my career. I didn’t think they were real, I just wondered how long it would last. And to be fair, before we picked up a few injuries, it lasted quite a while for us last season.”

An integral thread tying that season together was the strong bonds between Chiefs players which were evident whenever the squad took to the field. Roots believes it is testament to the experience of the coaches what the players were able to develop in terms of a culture.

“Bonds are made through hard work – the blood, sweat and tears. I think a tip of the hat goes to the coaching staff here and their recruitment style. It’s a pretty rigorous task to find players that are going to fit the mould here – to fit on and off the pitch with what we’re trying to do.

“Rob and the coaching staff seem to get that really right. That’s why I think you see guys gelling on the field, it’s because we get along so well off of it. Rob’s seems to find a lot of people cut from the same cloth.”

The bond that got the Chiefs squad through the season is the very same one that Roots drew on to catch the eye of Steve Borthwick and England selectors. Given his international debut in the Guinness Six Nations – being awarded Man of the Match in his first game against Italy – it was a whirlwind that he only recently had the time to fully comprehend.

“I didn’t really wrap my head around the whole international thing to start with, I just kept trucking on. Spending time with my family and friends this summer was my first chance to properly reflect and look back on it, to appreciate it for what it was.

“Timing is important, and I think there was a short opening for me to find my way into the team. I think a lot of credit is due to the boys here because I didn’t get selected because what I was doing week-in-week-out was amazing, but what the team allowed me to do was show my best attributes and that allowed me to get selected.

“On reflection, it was all just a rebound effect of the hard work we as a group put in.”

The tireless hard work that Roots put in last season to find his feet in Rob Baxter’s squad and then to earn his place in a top tier international set-up is not something he plans to let up on in this, his second season.

“The old adage of shoot for the stars and you might land on the moon, that’s kind of how I approach each season. I’ve set my goals, they’re a step forward from last year but that just excites me – I revel in a challenge. I’m looking to take everything up a step this year, and I think everyone else in the group is as well. We had our year of rebuilding; this year we’re going to take it to teams.”

And this year, as has been well documented, Roots will be going through the experience alongside his younger brother, Jimmy. The younger Roots is a tighthead prop who is looking to compete in the run for the starting shirt, but elder brother doesn’t plan to interfere in his sibling’s journey as a Chief.

“Everyone is different and just because we’re brothers that doesn’t change things, as we’re two very different people. I’m letting him find his own feet. I can help give him a nudge to something I think is right, but at the end of the day he has to find his own way and have his own journey to enjoy it his way.

“His time in this team is going to be different to my time in this team, so I wouldn’t force an agenda on anyone, especially not my brother.”

While his first season as a Chief was one for the story books, Roots has switched all focus to putting his best foot forward in his second. Almost as importantly, he will continue to savour the moments that make being a Chief so special.

“I can’t wait for home games this season. Before every game, I do a half lap of the field and the crowd get behind it – straight away, you can just feel them. It’s pretty special here at Sandy Park – it’s 15,000 people but it feels atleast double that when you get into the game.

“They’ve got their chants, they’re always whooping and hollering. We’re a good home team because we enjoy playing in front of that crowd, we love showing them every part of our game.

“Our crowd here seem to enjoy watching the hard work as well as the flashy stuff, so I think the whole community here is just aligned. From players and staff to people watching – they all know what we’re about and reward us for it.”