#4. Partner
“I’ve known Zoe since I was 14 when she came down to Cornwall from Essex,” Nowell says of his partner, Zoe, a spa therapist.
“We were friends but never really got together properly until I was about 20-21 years old. I went back down to Cornwall to see my family and happened to bump into her. We had a good catch-up and we now have a kid and a house, so it’s pretty weird!”
So what is the key to their successful relationship? “She doesn’t have a clue about rugby, which is very nice and very important to me. She obviously shows a little bit of interest and she tries to learn a few things.
“But the last thing I want to do is come home and her ask how the training’s going and what moves are we running and stuff. Her not knowing rugby suits my lifestyle very well.
“She knows what it’s like to grow up down in Cornwall and we both enjoy going back home and spending time on the beaches and things like that. What was important to me was that she knew me before I was a rugby player and what I was like when I was younger.”