PRE-season for England and Bath rugby star Charlie Ewels is well underway.

The Bournemouth-born second rower is into the fourth week of preparations for the new Premiership Rugby season, with his club side aiming to go one better after losing out in the final to Northampton Saints last term.

But the scientific training and nutrition plans professional players go through now is a long way from the sausage and chips Ewels remembers fondly from his time playing for Bournemouth Rugby Club.

The 29-year-old told the Daily Echo he has ‘loads of happy memories’ from his time at the south coast club.

“Ultimately, that was my introduction to rugby,” Ewels said.

“If it wouldn't have been for Bournemouth Rugby Club and if I wouldn't have enjoyed myself as much as I did playing in those teams, then I wouldn't be where I am today.

“I'm extremely grateful to the club for that.”

(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Thinking back to his time rising through the Bournemouth ranks, Ewels laughs and says that he remembers the ‘stupid’ things about playing at the club.

“I will never, ever forget how good that sausage and chips after you've been out running around in the cold,” he said.

“It just hit different.

“I probably couldn't tell you the result of a single game from under 11s downwards, but I could tell you exactly what the sausage and chips tasted like.”

The Bournemouth team he was a part of saw success in county competitions, all coached by his dad, who did his coaching badge to coach the side from under 12s when the previous coach left.

“When you're a selfish teenager, you probably don't appreciate those things,” Ewels said.

“Now that I'm a little bit older and if I look back, I just think he's done a full day at work and then given up his evening to come and stand around and coach me and help me push me.

“Not because at that point I was thinking that it could ever be a job, but just because it was something that I loved doing.”

(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Ewels is aiming was to get ‘fitter, faster and stronger’ to help Bath this season, while also hoping to earn selection for Steve Borthwick’s autumn internationals squad.

Speaking about his pre-season, he said it provides him with an opportunity to grow his game, to make some of his strengths stronger and to plug some gaps.

It also gives the entire Bath squad the opportunity to develop their team, in the hopes they can clinch the title this season having got so close last year.

“As you saw in the final, when you've got a game that is as close as it was, when you've got two brilliant teams going at it, it's never going to be one obvious thing of, if we just get better at that, then we'll win the thing,” Ewels said.

“The other thing to consider is that was last year. We're into a new season now.

“Squads change, everybody moves forward, the game moves forward, some of the laws get tweaked and changed. Everything is changing and evolving.

“So, if you sort of rest too much on what you did last year, you'll soon find yourself falling behind.

“The theme of the preseason has been, can we grow all areas of our game by five, 10, 15 per cent?

“Because that's what it's going to need and that's what it's going to take to push on and try and go one better than we did last year.”

(Image: John Walton/PA Wire)

Reflecting on his return to the England side last year, when Ewels was red carded against Japan, he said: “I worked really hard and I was quite proud of myself for getting myself back in contention to be on that tour and to be involved again.

“It didn't go how I wanted it to. But that's sport and that's life.”

Looking ahead to this season, he said he hopes to contribute, play and win with Borthwick’s England, but is focused firmly on making his game the best it can be ahead of the new season, with selection out of his control.

“I'm really quite clear and Steve's very clear in terms of what he expects from an England player and what an England performance should look like,” Ewels said.

“There's nothing that's going to sort of shock or surprise me. He knows where my game is at. I know what I need to improve.

“I know what it is that him, as England coach, wants from his second rows and his players to play Test match rugby.

“I just need to keep pushing at those things to try to get myself in contention.”

Bath Rugby open their season at home in a re-run of last season’s final, against Northampton Saints at The Rec on Friday, September 20 at 7.45pm.

Tickets can be purchased through the Bath Rugby website, with international stars including Finn Russell and Ollie Lawrence set to play alongside Ewels.