Newstalk ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave and the NZ Herald's Bonnie Jansen get together to preview the weekend's sport.
Video / NZ Herald / Photosport
Ethan Roots has had a fortnight that is unlikely to be topped.
Six Nations selection for England, Player of the Match on test debut and then a first win at Twickeham have resulted in a “dream ride” to begin his international career - but the 26-year-old still has to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t in fact dreaming.
“You find yourself in camp and you go: ‘Holy s***, I’m in an England international camp, how did I get here?’ It’s pretty nuts to be honest with you,” Roots said.
“Sometimes you almost forget it, you almost forget you’re in an England camp, an international camp at the highest level of rugby and then you almost have to pinch yourself to make sure it’s actually happening. So it’s been like that for the last month now.”
You don’t get thrown in much deeper ends than Stadio Olimpico and Twickenham for your first and second test, but Roots says the enormous crowds at venues like that can give players a boost.
“I think the most people I’d played in front of before [my debut] was 14,000 - I’m not even sure what it was that day but I know it was more than that - just the atmosphere alone was crazy.
“Twickenham, there were 80,000 people there - it’s kind of hard to fathom. I don’t think I’ve ever been in any other place where there’s been that many people. The noise of the crowd, it’s just bouncing and you kind of bounce off that as well,” Roots tells the Herald.
Stadio Olimico presents an epic backdrop for a test debut. Photo / Getty Images
The Auckland-born, Rosmini College-educated loose forward qualified for England selection on ancestry grounds due to his father being from Reading. While Roots had known he was “there or thereabouts” as the Six Nations approached, he says the phone call that delivered the news still made his brain blank out for few seconds.
“We had a few meetings about it. You know you’re there or thereabouts, but when we got the initial call to say I’d be included in the Six Nations campaign, it’s hard to put into words.
“I was on the phone, the kids were going nuts in the other room. Tessa [my partner] was trying to eavesdrop on me. They told me about 30 seconds into the call and then for the next 60 seconds it was sort of just blank, a bit of fuzz - I didn’t really take in what else he said.”
“He hung up and then we literally just bounced around for a bit, just shaking and not really believing it’s happened and it’s kind of been like that for a little while now.”
Tessa who Roots speaks of is none other than Tessa Boagni, the 30-time Tall Fern and former US College basketball star, who comes from a talented sporting family in her own right. Roots says it’s her support and understanding of his situation from her own journey that allows him to balance chasing his dreams with taking care of their two young children.
“I balance it by having a good partner.
“She gets it. She’s sort of been there and done that with her basketball so she lets me take a bit of a step back when it comes to managing the kids and stuff. She just takes care of it all.”
Ethan Roots is presented with his first England cap. Photo / Getty Images
While recent months have been nothing but highs, Roots says it hasn’t always been the case. His Covid-disrupted Super Rugby career disillusioned him with rugby somewhat and led to his departure from New Zealand shores to take up a contract with Ospreys in Wales.
“I was pretty suited to the Northern Hemisphere, UK-style of rugby. Also, I was able to just enjoy being myself. Enjoy being part of a group environment again. I just didn’t really fit into the mould down there at the Crusaders. It wasn’t the greatest year for everyone to be fair, Covid hit and it was definitely a turbulent time to be a first-year professional rugby player.
“All of that happened and my head just wasn’t in a good space. I think more than anything I just needed to move away from it all to get a bit of a fresh start. That helped, I felt like I could almost reinvent myself and that’s kind of what I’ve done.”
Ospreys gave him a shot with a short-term contract and Roots impressed - then, as the situation with rugby in Wales deteriorated, clubs from around the UK began to circle and Roots was offered a deal with the Exeter Chiefs.
“They offered me a gig at the Chiefs when Wales was kind of going under and I jumped at that. Then honestly the last six, seven months has just been nuts.
“I don’t think anyone would have ever guessed that something like that would happen. It’s kind of the sport, it comes in waves - it comes really quick, fast highs and quite hard and fast lows as well. That’s kinda how it went, started as a low and now I’m at my all-time high.”
Roots went from the Champions Cup to the Six Nations in a matter of days. Photo / Getty Images
As Roots says, he found himself well suited to the style of rugby in the northern part of the world, with the set-piece and forwards-orientated style suited to his strengths and allowing him to flourish in a way that he hadn’t before in New Zealand.
“With the weather over here, it rains about nine months of the year, so the game is played tactically a bit different. You probably try and keep the ball in the oppositions’ hands a bit more than you are trying to keep it yourself.
“Set piece is obviously a huge factor up this side of the world, big everywhere but I think more so up here. A big pack is a pretty crucial component of a team up here so those subtle differences make the rugby quite a bit different.”
Becoming a capped international, thrust straight into an environment with the intensity of a Six Nations tournament leaves little time for moments to soak it all in, but Roots says he’s been able to take a couple of days recently to reflect on what he’s achieved - although it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet.
“There’s been a few moments but they’ve been pretty brief... there’s not a whole lot of time to just sit back and soak it up.”
“We’ve had a few days off so I’ve been able to just download all of it and sit back and go ‘F****** hell, that’s really happened, the last two weeks actually happened.”
