Perched on an armchair around the corner from the library in England’s team hotel, Ben Earl is in a reflective mood. At 27, this is no wizened or weather-beaten veteran, but the years have developed a sager head than might first appear – and a former student of comparative literature is happy to chronicle chapters past, present and future after a year that has changed his outlook on his chosen pursuit and, in a way, life itself.
With an air of quiet contemplation that belies his role as England’s action-man on the pitch, there is the odd stroke of the chin from the flanker as he picks up a conversation that began in Sydney in the wake of the third British and Irish Lions Test and a tour that challenged his notions of perfect preparation. “I loved it,” he beams of a long-coveted experience that surpassed his expectations. “I learnt so much. It changed my perspective on a lot of things.
