Roots aims to force his way back into England reckoning

Ethan Roots was named man of the match on his England debut against Italy in February

Exeter Chiefs flanker Ethan Roots says he is keen to break back into the England squad having taken a downturn in form at the tail end of 2024.

The 27-year-old had an impressive debut against Italy in the Six Nations in February and featured in four of the country's five games.

He went on to be included in the squad for the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand but did not feature.

The New Zealand-born forward says he knows his form has not been as good this season, but is striving to get back to where he was when he earned a call-up almost a year ago.

"I'm pretty keen to get back in there," he told BBC Radio Devon.

"I've had talks with Steve (Borthwick, England head coach) around it and we all agreed that the guy that they saw, even the guy that played in that Italy match, we haven't really quite got back to that.

"That's kind of what I'm pushing for now, just putting out performances that people look at and think 'yeah that was Ethan Roots in the six jersey', they don't even need to see the name on the back, they know from how I play that it was me there."

Roots has featured in all of Exeter's matches this season, but like his side his form has dipped.

The Chiefs have lost all seven of their Premiership games and both of their European Champions Cup ties, leaving Roots to try and work out why he has gone off the boil:

"I think one of the things was overcomplicating things for myself, just trying a little bit too hard to point where was it was detrimental for myself.

"I've come out on the other side of that, learnt quite a bit about myself and I'm pretty happy to push on now."

He added: "When I first got here it was quite a meteoric rise for myself and the team, we sort of took everyone by surprise with how well we did.

"The latter part of the year has been a lot more challenging, but it's been equally rewarding in the fact that I've learnt quite a bit about myself and about the group of blokes around me as well.

"I've enjoyed the entire year, but latter part of the year has been has been a lot more challenging than the beginning."