Alex Lozowski: I paid high price for poor England game – I think of it most days
Alex Lozowski tells John Westerby that his spell in France is part of a plan to regain his international place
John Westerby
Friday December 18 2020, 12.01am, The Times
There have been plenty of opportunities in recent months for Alex Lozowski to muse on the value of learning from his mistakes. In the midst of a season-long loan from Saracens at Montpellier, he has been using the process of trial and error to gain greater fluency in the local language. “I came here speaking no French at all, but I’m trying to learn whenever I can,” he said. “I’ll often take myself away from the guys speaking English at breakfast or lunch and plonk myself on a table where the boys are speaking French. I’ll mostly listen, but I’ll try to pipe up with something, even if I look like a moron. It’ll probably go wrong, but I’d rather give it a go.”
On the training field, too, Lozowski has been struck by the amount of hours his new team have spent on developing their offloading game, which does not always run smoothly in practice sessions. “If you look at players like [Virimi] Vakatawa and [Semi] Radradra, they make offloading look easy, but it isn’t,” he said. “We do a lot of offloading games in training and it’s something that, if you practise, if you throw yourself into it, you can really improve. Often the ball will end up on the floor. But in the long term it will make you a better player.”
The mistakes that Lozowski, 27, yearns above all to make amends for were made on his most recent appearance in an England shirt, two years ago at Twickenham against Japan. He has yet to be given the chance to show that he has learned from that experience, having been hauled off at half-time by Eddie Jones and cast aside ever since.
The move to Montpellier, a consequence of Saracens’ relegation over salary cap breaches, has put him out of international contention for the duration of his stay in France, but he will return to Saracens next season with a burning desire to add to his five England caps. “It’s a massive ambition, I’d love to be back involved,” he said. “I’m aware how well I’d have to play to do that, the guys in that England set-up have been playing well and getting great results for a long time now. But I’m going to give it my best shot when I get back.”
He is back on English soil this evening, starting at outside centre for Montpellier in their Heineken Champions Cup game away to Wasps. But that first half against Japan, when he was part of a substandard performance in a much-changed England team that was trailing 15-10 at half-time, remains an enduring frustration, unsurprisingly given the lack of opportunity to put it right. He was not the only one — both Danny Care and Zach Mercer have been sidelined since — but Lozowski’s glaring error, despite defence being a strength of his game, was to miss a one-on-one tackle in front of his posts on Ryoto Nakamura, the Japan centre, who cantered over.
“That’s the nature of elite sport, I paid a high price for the way that game went,” he said. “It lingers with me now. I’d be lying if I said I don’t think about that game most days. If I could go back and play one game again, it would be that one. But it’s also a massive driver now for what I want to achieve in the future. I’m determined to get back to playing in those big games and hopefully something will come of it.”
The disappointment did not impair his club performances at the time. Saracens went on to win the double and Lozowski, smart and athletic in the centre, was impressive in the Champions Cup final victory over Leinster. When Saracens were relegated this year, he jumped at the chance to take a sabbatical at one of France’s biggest clubs, to broaden his experiences on and off the pitch. “It’s not something many English guys do until later in their career,” he said. “But the situation I found myself in with the Saracens [salary cap] episode, this seemed like a great option.”
The first few months in Montpellier were pleasant, arriving on the Mediterranean in the warmth of June and with much of France’s pandemic restriction lifted. From his flat on the outskirts of the city centre, the training ground was a 15-minute drive away, the beach only ten minutes. The last couple of months have been less fulfilling as a return to lockdown has curtailed his cultural exploration. “It’s a pity not to be able to experience the French way of life as much as I’d like because so much is shut,” he said. “But I’m hoping in a few weeks’ time that everything will start to open up, the weather will be great and I can have family, friends and my girlfriend out here to stay again.”
Travelling from his adopted home, Lozowski will be returning to his roots this evening, playing against the club where his father Rob played and with whom he began his career before moving to Saracens in 2016. “I always enjoy going back to Wasps, to see some old friends, and with the family ties,” he said. “We’re expecting a tough game, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Wasps v Montpellier
Heineken Champions Cup, pool one
Kick-off: 8pm tonight, BT Sport 2
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Always a Wasp