The “revealing” lesson that Ben Earl learned during the first lions tour

The British and Irish lions may have simply suffered a third test defeat, but the broad smile on a radiant face of Ben Earl could practically spread over the port of Sydney. Of course, a series had been secure, a sufficient reason for the celebration, but the eager English speaks of something bigger.

“It was an experience that changed life,” he begins. “It showed me something completely different in terms of rugby things. I loved it. Honestly, it was completely transformer for me and I am a much better player because of this. ”

So far, so normal – it is difficult to find a lions player who has not returned from this trip after having their lives. This is partly due to a group which, even among the Lions squads, has developed a special link; The plans are already underway for a meeting in 12 years. But for Earl, an individual as devoted and ambitious they come, this trip allowed him to reconnect with the days of primitive rugby and learn to approach the game in a clearly different way.

Ben Earl presented the bench in two of the three tests (Getty Images)

“Get out on your own way,” says Earl when asked for his greatest learning. “You can think too much about this sport, but when you have a match on Saturday, then you have to play again Tuesday or Wednesday, you will not be able to do each representative, review the whole opposition. Get out on your own path and just play rugby.

“It is almost as if you arrived at the pinnacle of our sport, that’s what it is, and that you are back at under 12 on a Sunday morning. This is honestly what it does, there is no preparation, you just get out, you have a plan, you try to implement it, you express yourself in a way that Andy and the rest of the coache staff allowed us to do every minute.”

The evening of the third test has provided an experience that Earl believes displays the kind of mind that he hopes to bring back to the Saracens and England. “We got on our Lions bus and the door was blocked. We try to go 3-0 and we had to change buses, and you should have seen the group. I was involved in groups where it would have thrown boys, but we laugh, having craic.

“Two minutes maximum, but it was like, we are not on the team bus, so what does that mean? Get out of your way. It’s a rugby game. Whatever bus you are in, it doesn’t make the difference how you are going to play.”

The British and Irish lions won a serial victory in Australia (Getty Images)

Some kinds of superstitious can oppose the life lesson of Earl, but there is a difference in your marked of a player who has prospered in several processes focused. After arriving in Australia without any preconceived idea on the tour or its place in the hierarchical order of Andy Farrell, the 27 -year -old is delighted to have presented the bench twice in the tests. Narrow, tied on tour will make it next year, he thinks. “It will be weird during the six nations to play again against these guys because they are direct elimination guys.”

He talks strongly about Farrell Senior – “Whenever he speaks to the group, I say to myself:” I will do anything for this man “” – and Farrell Junior, with Owen who was to be a club, and perhaps the country, teammate again when he and Earl return to Saracens. “Whenever I take the field with Owen, I think” we are going to win “. This is its best quality.”

Ben Earl is delighted to work with Owen Farrell in Saracens again (Getty Images)

For EARL, a break, with a compulsory 10-week labor period before a return to Prem Rugby likely to be filled with golf for a very low handicapper. A little cricket observation is also on the cards – the opening of England Zak Crawley is a schoolboy of Tonbridge and Earl appreciated the half -century of his companion from his companion to the oval.

The body will be happy with a break after a season of 11 months of more than 30 games, but when the time comes, Earl believes that it will be ready to tear itself apart. “I am almost excited to start again. I need my leave, but I am almost excited to return to certain environments to be like,” well, in fact, have you thought about it “.

“There are things I have talked about by his English colleagues, in fact, there are nice things that we can bring back to the camp and that is somehow everything that is, isn’t we? We can come back and say:” In fact, there are bits that we have made here that really work when we have time or during the countryside “.

Ben Earl loved his first tour experience (AFP via Getty Images)

“I probably have more confidence in what I did rather than bother myself. Honestly, some of the best players in the world are in this locker room and some of them are the most relaxed people I have ever seen on preparation, training. It’s revealing. “