Ben Morgan could have been playing for Wales this autumn, but instead he is likely to have another crack at becoming England’s No.8.
The former Scarlets back row forward had the chance to wear red for country as well as region after he fulfilled the three-year residency period back in 2012.
Instead, unlike so many happy to swap national allegiance, Morgan admitted he was an Englishman at heart, whatever the rules might say and moved to Gloucester in a bid to fulfill that dream.
The 29-year-old eventually made the breakthrough and earned 31 caps wearing the red rose, but it’s now three years since he last played Test rugby.
Injuries have taken their toll, but Morgan is back fully fit and in form and with others now on the sidelines he could well earn a recall at Twickenham when Eddie Jones’ side host South Africa on Saturday.
That would be a significant comeback for a player who broke his leg in 2015, the year England endured a harrowing group exit from the World Cup tournament they were hosting.
Confronted by the need to generate revenue outside of rugby to provide for his family he set-up No.8 Scaffolding, which is now operating “flat out” and is in the process of expanding.
“When you’re in that rugby bubble you feel invincible and that you’ll always be involved, but then you have a realisation when something bad happens,” says Morgan.
“When I broke my leg in 2015, I was like ‘this could all just go’. I have got my family to support and my son was born in 2015. I thought I have got to look after my family.
“I started to invest in certain things – I have got some property, set up a scaffolding company and I also have got property development interests.”
With Billy Vunipola, Nathan Hughes and Sam Simmonds injured, Morgan could soon ensure the World Cup defeat by Australia is not his final outing in an England jersey.
“The big thing for me is that I am a completely different person now to then. I have got a family, I have got two children. I have started a business,” adds Morgan.
“When I was playing before, I was playing for my own aspirations and individual goals whereas now my goals and reason and drive is playing for my family and my kids.
“Having a deeper meaning is definitely a game changer. I am a lot more relaxed. You can at times put a lot of pressure on yourself and previously it was a pressure to be involved.
“Don’t get me wrong I have always got that desire to be here but I’ve made that peace that if I wasn’t then I was very proud of what I had achieved.”
England name their squad to face South Africa on Thursday morning with Morgan expected to pack down in a back row also featuring Tom Curry and Michael Rhodes.
“We have lost Billy and Nathan Hughes so there is competition between Ben Morgan, Zach Mercer and Mark Wilson in that spot,” Jones said.
“We have an idea of who we are going to select, we’ll just wait for a couple of training runs to confirm that.”
