Last season's hurt will drive Ewers forward
By Mark Stevens
16/10/21
A bit like the Incredible Hulk, you don’t want to make him angry.
In the case of Dave Ewers, he’s not exactly angry – more frustrated – and now he’s desperate to use that feeling to help drive Exeter Chiefs onwards and upwards this season.
Sat in the grandstand seats at Sandy Park this week, the imposing Zimbabwean-born forward took time out to reflect on recent months.
What could have been the perfect follow-up to Exeter’s double-winning success of 12 months ago, sadly things didn’t go quite to plan for the Chiefs as they surrendered both their European and English crowns.
For Ewers – a key component of the Chiefs for numerous years – he should again have been front and centre for Rob Baxter’s side in their title defences. And, for much of last season, he was very much one of the club’s talisman yet again, that was until in the final match of the regular campaign, he was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Sale’s Simon Hammersley.
Sure, he sat out the obligatory ten minutes that afternoon, but it was what happened in the aftermath that would have a lasting effect. A citing by the independent commissioner saw Ewers – and team-mate Sam Skinner – hauled before an RFU disciplinary panel just days later.
In both cases, the Chiefs duo pleaded their innocence. Sadly, their defence claims fell on deaf ears and both were handed four-game bans, ruling them out of both the Premiership semi-final and finals.
They were notable absentees and certainly had a bearing on what happened in the Twickenham showpiece against Harlequins.
Months on, Ewers – who was also set to be part of England’s summer Test plans – outlines his feelings.
“I was gutted,” he says Ewers. “Obviously, I have missed a fair few games through injury, but I would say being banned for games was something I am not used to it was a tough pill to swallow.
“It was awful timing. First of all, not being able to play here at Sandy Park for the semi-final and then obviously up at Twickenham. The decision was made and I had to get on with it.”
Despite the bitter disappointment of being absent from Exeter’s title push and missing out on his long-awaited England call-up, Ewers admitted his enforced time away from the field allowed him to have operations on both his thumb and knee.
Forced to sit out Exeter’s opening two games of the season against Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints, the 30-year-old returned a fortnight ago for his side’s opening league win of the season away to Sale Sharks.
It was like he had never been away, such was his influence in both attack and defence, but he then followed it up with an equally powerful try-scoring performance in last weekend’s win over Worcester Warriors.
“That time out allowed me to get on with operations to try and get back for this season so fortunately, I am all back and going now,” Ewers continued. “We had a few injuries in that week building into Sale so I thought if I was lucky, I was going to be involved off the bench, but I was flung in to start!
“That was probably the best thing for me, but in the build-up to that game, I was a bit worried about the old lungs so fortunately, I wasn’t too bad!”
Now, Ewers is looking to make up further for lost time, starting with today’s trip to Wasps, where he will pack down in the back-row alongside Richard Capstick and Sam Simmonds, who himself marked his first return to action last weekend with a brace of tries.
“I love playing with him,” Ewers said of Simmonds. “It does bring out the best in me too. Simmo came through Ivybridge [Community College] a couple of years after me, but you could always tell he was going to be a special player. As soon as he got his chance, he has never really looked back. He is a phenomenal player.
“You do wonder where some of his speed comes from sometimes because he takes off and leaves us way behind!”
Simmonds will likely be jostling for an international starting berth with Billy Vunipola and Alex Dombrandt, but for Ewers, he is unsure about his own England future. Though a measured talker when the subject is mentioned, there is a sense of a ‘missed opportunity’ in his voice.
“I don’t think it is for me to decide whether the door is closed or not,” Ewers says. “Obviously, it would be an honour to be involved again to whatever degree, but as soon as I start looking too far forward, that is when performances probably start to slip off and probably where I went wrong earlier on in my career.
“I was probably looking forward too much and not dealing with what was ahead of me. At the moment, I am concentrating on trying to perform here.”