If Ethan Roots had eyes for a different girl when he was a teenager, we might never have heard of the striker who has just been called up to the England squad.
The New Zealand-born winger, who earned his first call-up after a season at Exeter, may never have picked up a ball in anger had he not been kicked out of the jiu-jitsu club by his coach.
“I was dating his daughter and he didn’t like that so he asked me out and it never felt right to go back for a lot of personal reasons,” Rutch, 26, told BBC South West.
“My school was a rugby school so I fell into it naturally and I didn’t look back as soon as I fell into it.”
Growing up in Auckland with an English father, Roots didn’t have your typical route to rugby union.
He competed internationally in jiu-jitsu before his teenage love life got in the way and he balanced work on construction sites with education as he realized he was half-decent on the oval ball, first for North Harbor and then Super Rugby side Crusaders.
“I can appreciate it a bit more than people who have been through academies because I’ve been in the workforce and I know if it’s raining here and we’re throwing a rugby ball around and having a bit of fun with guys you call Friends, it’s a lot more fun sitting on a construction site digging a hole or hammering a nail in,β he said.
Ethan Roots balanced a job in construction and education when he first tried to carve out a career in rugby union
The early days of Roots involved being in the gym until 5am before arriving at a construction site for 7am, finishing at 5pm and then heading straight to rugby training.
“I enjoyed those moments,” he added.
βIt was a good crew, I had a lot of really good friends doing the same thing at the same time.
βI enjoyed it because you started to see results and I started to play better rugby so you enjoy seeing things like that so you don’t mind working hard behind the scenes.
“I’d still be playing for free at my local club if I wasn’t doing it professionally, but I’ve just had the lucky opportunity to do it professionally.”
Roots played 38 times for Ospreys before leaving for Exeter
Roots received a call-up to the Maori All Blacks in 2020 but was never able to establish himself at the Crusaders – Super Rugby’s most successful side.
Having always wanted to become a professional player, he got his big break at Welsh club Ospreys in 2021 after his first full season at North Harbour. Rutch and his family packed their bags and headed to Swansea, where he would spend two full seasons playing in the United Rugby Championship.
“I’ve always wanted to play top level rugby and test myself against the best,” he says.
“I was really happy to get to the end of things at the Ospreys, in my two years I think he developed a lot as a person and as a player, so I was really happy with how things went there.”
Roots has started all 18 of his Exeter appearances so far this season
His performances for the Ospreys, both domestically and in Europe, caught the eye of Exeter and he was one of a number of new players to move to the Chiefs in the summer.
Roots wasn’t the biggest name to take to Sandy Park in pre-season, but he quickly went off the radar to star of the show – starting 18 of Exeter’s 19 league and cup games this season.
“I’m amazed at how the last six or seven months have shaped up for me,” he said.
βWhen I first got here I knew I was going to blow it just to get a shirt every weekend, there are already a lot of good players here.
βThe back row is also one of those positions where you’re never guaranteed, you have a bad week and you might be out of the team and you might not see a way back, it’s a highly contested position.
βIt would have been very presumptuous if I thought I was going to come here and just come into the team and do my thing, but I’ve been lucky enough, I think, to win a shirt and lucky enough to keep it as well. .”
Now England also awaits the chance to make his Six Nations debut for a team he watched beat the All Blacks in a 2019 World Cup semi-final on television as he dreamed of turning pro.
“I’d be really speechless,” he said of the prospect of making his debut.
βIt would have been difficult to process just the name in the team, it was difficult to process the call I had and the announcement.
“I’ll just try to work it out and then produce something and do the jersey some justice.”