Rugby World: Got any nicknames? 

Jack Nowell: Kiko. Gonzalo Camacho was at Exeter when there was a portly Argentine soap actor called Kiko and let’s just say I came back from injury a little lardy.

RW: Any phobias? 

JN: I have a massive fear of snakes and spiders. When I was younger I used to have
a big, yellow snake and one day it wrapped itself around my neck and frightened me. It’s the same with spiders: I had a close encounter on holiday and now I’m petrified.

RW: Who are the Exeter jokers? 

JN: It has to be Haydn Thomas. We call him ‘The Rat’. He likes to get all the plates, knives and forks from the kitchen and puts them in people’s bags. Jason Shoemark usually runs home and wonders why his bag is so heavy.

Club clowns: Shoemark & Thomas are the jokers at Exeter

RW: Superstitions? 

JN: I put everything on my left side first. I’ll put my left leg in my shorts first. If I don’t think and strap my right wrist as I talk, I stop, unwrap and start on my left.

RW: Who’d you like to be stuck in a lift with? 

JN: Adam Sandler. I like his films, like The Waterboy. My favourite is Grown Ups. He has a stupid sense of humour which appeals to me.

RW: If you could have one superpower what would it be? 

JN: I’d be invisible because you could do anything you want. I’d be doing lots of pranks on my team-mates.

RW: What’s the silliest thing you have ever bought? 

JN: One of my mates decided to cut off my old rat’s tail because they didn’t like it, so I went out and bought a clip-on rat’s tail. Sadly they ripped it off again when they saw it.

RW: Three dream dinner-party guests? 

JN: Micky Flanagan cracks me up, he’d provide laughs. I’d have Angelina Jolie there for intelligence and beauty, and lastly Gordon Ramsay so he can cook.

Ready to order: Nowell would like Ramsay, here representing Soccer Aid, to cook for him

RW: Who would play you in a film?

JN: Well, if I can’t go for Adam Sandler, I’ll go for Tom Cruise because he’s smooth like me!

RW: Hidden talents? 

JN: I was a decent swimmer in school. I reached county level in the backstroke but had to make a choice at 16. I still like to swim. The boys call me ‘The Fish’.

RW: Embarrassing rugby moment? 

JN: The worst was when we went out after a game and had a couple of drinks with the team. They decided to pin me down and bite my rat’s tail off. It was James Scaysbrook who had my hair in his mouth and a big grin on his face.

RW: Which team-mate would you like to be?

JN: One person I wouldn’t be is Anthony Watson because he has some terrible chat. I’d have to say Danny Care. He is a cool dude.

Shirt swap: Care and Nowell celebrate beating Italy in the Six Nations

RW: How’d you like to be remembered? 

JN: On the field I’d like to be seen as a player who could make something out of nothing and off it, someone laid-back and who likes a laugh.

RW: Funniest thing seen on the pitch? 

JN: Ben White was in a lineout against Quins when one of the boys pulled his shorts up. Back at the hotel, one of the lads’ girlfriends put a pic on Twitter of Ben, who had accidentally popped out of his shorts.

RW: What would be your Mastermind specialist subject? 

JN: Speaking Cornish. The boys take the mick out of how I speak. Things like, ‘Where’s our meeting to?’ They say I don’t make any sense. I’m always coming up with stuff they laugh at.

Jack Nowell chats to Will Carling after beating Wales… 

This was published in the May 2014 edition of Rugby World. Click here to see what’s in the current issue.