Exeter Chiefs' Ethan Roots has been named in the England squad. Photo / Getty
New Zealand-born former cage fighter and jiu-jitsu champion Ethan Roots has been named in England’s Six Nations squad for the first time.
Six years ago, the combative flanker, who qualifies for England through his father, was working 10-hour shifts for an Auckland-based building company as a construction worker after leaving school with no qualifications.
Rugby had been a feature during his school years but, after becoming alienated from the sport as a teenager due to a delayed growth spurt, the idea of pursuing it professionally quickly faded.
The Exeter Chiefs loose forward is one of seven uncapped players including wingers Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Oscar Beard and Tom Roebuck, back-row forward Chandler Cunningham-South, centre Fraser Dingwall and first five-eighth Fin Smith — while prop Kyle Sinckler and No. 8 Billy Vunipola have been omitted. Sinckler and Vunipola have been stalwarts of the team for the previous two World Cup cycles.
Jamie George was named as England’s captain, with the hooker taking the role following Owen Farrell’s decision to sit out the tournament to prioritize his and his family’s mental wellbeing.
George has played 85 games for England and has previously captained Saracens, his club team in England, and the British & Irish Lions.
“I don’t underestimate the challenge ahead,” said George, who was asked last week by England coach Steve Borthwick if he wanted the role. “Owen is a fantastic motivator and tactician, and we will undoubtedly miss his leadership.
“But I have got brilliant people around me, many of whom have won major tournaments, and utilizing the great experience we have within the group is going to be crucial.”
Borthwick has undertaken a significant revamp of the 36-man squad, with only 17 remaining from the 34 players used at last year’s Rugby World Cup — where England finished in third place.
“Building on the foundations of what we achieved at the Rugby World Cup, I have selected a squad that provides strong continuity and experience, whilst at the same time providing an opportunity to develop the talent of a number of new and less-experienced players,” Borthwick said.
England opens their Six Nations campaign against Italy in Rome on Feb. 3.
In a bid to curb his rebellious streak, Roots pursued other opportunities in mixed martial arts that included a brief albeit memorable stint in cage fighting, aged 16.
“I ripped the guy’s biceps tendon off,” recalls Roots. “He was a 27-year-old farmer from the Far North and he just did not want to tap and I had him in an arm butt. My mum still has it on video, not that I want it to resurface. I got put down in the first round!”
The one-off contest ended in a draw. But Roots’ promising career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu was confirmation that he possessed the raw athleticism and power to make it to the top: he won eight national titles, as well as a gold and three silvers at the Pan-Pacific Championships.
“The best way people describe jiu-jitsu is like human chess,” explains Roots. “I really enjoyed the mental as well as physical challenge that came with it. I started having my growth spurts, I got to over 6ft.
“I was pretty serious about competing in jiu-jitsu so I started watching my diet. There was also the high of seeing the results, so everything combined together made it enjoyable.”
His time spent grappling on the mats and contorting others into chokeholds primed him for a return to rugby after his jiu-jitsu career was unceremoniously cut short. “Me and the [jiu-jitsu] head coach’s daughter were dating at the time,” says Roots. “He found out about it and didn’t like it and expelled me from the club. It didn’t feel right to go back so I didn’t, picked up rugby and fell in love with it again.”
Roots had received a solid rugby grounding at Auckland’s Rosmini College, whose alumni include Gareth Anscombe, the New Zealand-born Wales first five-eighthfly-half, before dabbling in regional sevens where he rubbed shoulders with Mark Telea.
His unconventional rugby route - on which he juggled labour-intensive shifts when he played for North Harbour in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship - meant he never appeared on the All Blacks’ radar.
“I’d get up about 4.30am, go to the gym, have no idea what I was doing but jump on the bike, lift some weights and get out of there,” says Roots. “I’d go to work for 10 or 11 hours and then head to rugby training. I did that about four days a week, break on Friday and have a game on Saturday.
“I might work Sunday for a little bit of extra cash, depending on how much money I’d spent that week. I’ve been there and done that so I understand what a privilege it is to play rugby every day for a living.”
Roots would not secure his first professional contract at Harbour until he was 21, but soon enough was being hunted by three of New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises. He ended up signing for Scott Robertson’s Crusaders and found himself sharing a dressing room with All Blacks like Scott Barrett. “It was nuts,” recalls Roots. “It was pretty surreal, having been on the building sites.”
But he struggled to adapt to the rigours of top-level rugby. Roots made only one appearance for the club - and had six minutes of professional rugby under his belt when he signed a two-year deal with the Ospreys in 2021. It was at the Welsh club that he reinvented himself and began harbouring international ambitions before being picked up by Exeter.
An industrious tackler with plenty of back-row bulk, Roots represents a new wave of young Chiefs belying their inexperience in the Premiership, where they remain in the mix for the play-offs.
“He’s been a natural leader for us,” says Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby. “His maturity in the group is beyond his age. He never felt like a gamble.”
In what feels like a full-circle moment, Roots, whose dad was born near Reading but emigrated to New Zealand as a 15-year-old with his adopted parents, has connected with members of his extended English family after doing an online ancestry test, even welcoming a few of his biological cousins at Sandy Park for matches.
While the father- of -two is fiercely proud of his Māori blood, which he inherits from his mum’s side of the family - a large Māori tattoo stretches across his inked back - Roots has no qualms about wearing the red rose.
“Even if I was born here, I’d still be a proud Māori and a proud Brit,” says Roots, whose partner, Tessa, is an international basketball player for New Zealand’s women’s team, the Tall Ferns. “I don’t think there’s any shame in that. I don’t speak a whole lot of Māori. We didn’t grow up in the house with it, but I’ve still got my family across my back. It’s a huge honour to just be name-dropped and to have caught their attention. I’d be more than happy to take on the responsibility, given the chance.”
With the Telegraph