Nowell out for eight weeks

By Mark Stevens
28/11/18

Rob Baxter says it’s likely Exeter Chiefs and England star Jack Nowell will be out for around eight weeks with a hamstring tear.

Nowell was forced to withdraw from preparations for last week’s Quilter Autumn International against Australia after picking up the injury during training at England’s training base at Pennyhill Park.

The Cornishman had featured in the earlier Test matches against South Africa, New Zealand and Japan - and was one of five Chiefs players deployed by England Head Coach Eddie Jones during the Autumn period.

The loss of Nowell, however, is an untimely blow for the Chiefs, who not only have a clutch of vital Gallagher Premiership games coming up, but also the double-header against Gloucester in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.

“Jack’s got a pretty significant hamstring tear,” said Baxter. “It’s one of those injuries which is likely to be around the eight-week mark, give or take a week depending on how his rehab goes. Ironically, he should be back in time to fight for a place in the Six Nations!”

Nowell aside, the Chiefs have welcomed back the remainder of their International stars this week and Baxter is thankful they have all reported in with no ill effects of a brutal month of action.

“As you’d expect after four tough rounds of international rugby, the guys are a bit bumped and bruised,” explained Baxter.“There are also elements of mental and physical fatigue which we will have to manage, but overall they are in pretty good shape.

“At the same time, a few of our other injured players are nearing returns to playing.Olly Woodburn, Jonny Hill, Luke Cowan-Dickie, they are all making good progress, while Sam Simmonds is now a couple of months into his rehab on his ACL injury, so it’s nice that as time goes by we are still winning games of rugby.

“That certainly means we can deal with things on a more positive footing moving forward.”