ZIMBABWEAN — born rugby star Dave Ewers could become the latest local player to feature for a foreign country, after catching the eye of England coach Stuart Lancaster following an impressive run for Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva English Premiership.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Having stayed in England for the past eight years, Ewers is eligible to play for the Lions by virtue of having been a principal residence for that country for the past eight years.
After just six starts in the Aviva Premiership, including last week’s man-of-the-match display in Exeter’s win at Gloucester, Ewers (22) is already being seen as a serious contender for England honors.
Lancaster was full of praise for Ewers, saying: “He has played well in two games. We need a consistency in order to make changes. But when players start making that consistency in the Premiership and in Europe over the next two weeks, it is hard to ignore them really.”
Yesterday, Ewers was expected to make his debut in Europe’s premier club rugby competition, the Heineken against Cardiff at Sandy Park, where he was expected to contend with England captain Sam Warburton in the opposition back row.
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Despite earning praise from the England coach, Ewers said his main focus at the moment was on improving his game and had not made up his mind yet on which country he would represent, a hint that he might be considering representing Zimbabwe.
“It was nice to hear that Stuart Lancaster was talking about me but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet and I’m not even thinking about Test rugby, let alone who I could play for,” he said in an interview with The Daily Mail.
Ewers, who was born in Harare, and raised in Mutare, started playing rugby, aged nine at Hillcrest Preparatory School, where he also enjoyed cricket and hockey.
However like, the current Australian rugby team captain David Pocock, Ewers and his family left Zimbabwe after losing their farm during the farm invasions.
Ewers, now 22 years old was only 14 when he left Zimbabwe in 2004.
While in England, Ewers, attended Ivybridge School in Devon before developing his rugby career and being accepted into Chiefs academy, where he excelled.
“My mum and dad came to England but everyone else is still back home,” said Ewers. “On my mum’s side of the family everyone lost their farms, and where my dad was working the farm was taken over.”
“It was an incredibly sad time for everyone, very difficult, but luckily we came here and things have worked out amazingly well.
Ewers said he was inspired by what Pocock has achieved.
“It was a big move to make at 14 and I did struggle to come to terms with it all for the first two or three years. But the situation is what it is and if you look at David Pocock and other Zimbabweans, they’ve done very well for themselves.
“I’ve been blessed to get a chance in rugby and hopefully I can follow in David’s footsteps.”