Jack Nowell: ‘Leaving Chiefs was one of the hardest positions I have been in’

T o witness their romp to a third successive Champions Cup final it was not hard to see why Jack Nowell is poised to join La Rochelle next season. Ronan O’Gara has built a formidable side and they have an ardent support base to match. As the son of a Cornish fisherman it helps for Nowell, too, that La Rochelle are based on the Atlantic coast – “as much as I would love to be in Paris, I love the sea”.

Equally, there is a financial reality to Nowell’s move. The reduced Premiership salary cap, coupled with the fact that when Covid hit the Chiefs made the admirable decision not to enforce wage reductions – unlike other clubs – has had an undeniable impact. Throw in a golden generation of England internationals, whose value and therefore salaries grew as they established themselves as Test players, and it becomes clear why so many Exeter players are moving to pastures new.

In Nowell’s case, at La Rochelle he is expected to earn roughly double what Exeter could afford to offer him to stay. As much as it is a wrench for Nowell to leave a club he joined when he was 16, he is one of a host of English players who recognise the financial imperative to move abroad.

“Deciding to leave Chiefs was one of the hardest positions I have ever been in,” Nowell said. “But if I am honest, during the Covid times the club decided to look after us and our families and like we are seeing with every Premiership club there comes a time when wages do come into it. A lot of the other clubs got hit during Covid and for us as a club we are being hit now. I love everything about [the Chiefs] but I have got to look after my family.”

Nowell may yet run out for the Chiefs once more – if selected for the Premiership dead rubber against London Irish on