Exeter Chiefs' rising star Jack Nowell believes greater exposure to competitive action is helping to bring his game onto another level this season.
The Chiefs, who face the Scarlets in key Heineken Cup Pool 5 matches next month in their first season in European club rugby's premier tournament, also have an eye on the future and are giving youth its chance at Sandy Park and Nowell is one who is taking his opportunity with both hands.
The 19-year-old Cornishman turned in a man-of-the-match display as the Devon club romped to a 42-15 LV= Cup victory over London Welsh.
Full back Nowell, who is also dual-registered with the Cornish Pirates in the Championship, raced over twice for the visitors who also had Nic Sestaret (2), Mark Foster and Will Carrick-Smith on the scoresheet in a hugely impressive display from the Chiefs.
England Under-20s starlet Nowell was one of 15 changes the Chiefs made to their line-up in a bold move from the Exeter coaching team, but one which ultimately provided huge dividends from the healthy mix of youth and experience.
"The coaches, Rob Baxter, Ali Hepher and Ricky Pellow) had being saying to us over the last couple of weeks that it was an opportunity for us to take," said Nowell.
"They gave us our chances, and even though we are still young, it shows we can take them.
"The result and performance were exactly what we wanted from the game. We had been talking all week about working together, sticking together and playing as a team, and I think we showed out there exactly what we had been working for.
After a knee injury ruled Nowell out for a large part of last season, including the Junior World Championships in South Africa, the fleet-footed back has returned to action with a bang.
Together with fellow young guns Henry Slade, Will Carrick-Smith, Sam Hill, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Arnott and Lloyd Fairbrother, the group are clearly benefitting from regular action at clubs such as the Pirates and Plymouth Albion.
"Our games are definitely coming on from playing regular rugby at Championship level," said Nowell.
"We have been given the chance to go out on dual registration and play at a lower level to the Premiership. It is very physical, but we are learning new things at the Chiefs and then taking those to our dual-registered clubs and trying them out, and bringing what we have learned at those clubs back to the Chiefs as well, which is good."
