Every time Ben Earl leaving the player tunnel for one match – and the next one could be a big one, like England’s No 8 against the All Blacks at Twickenham next Saturday – he pauses and raises his hands and eyes to the sky.

“It’s just a personal prayer that I always pray,” Earl shares in. “It’s a moment to reflect and be grateful for everything you do and why you do it.

“I like the idea of ​​using God’s gifts of what He has given you. And I’ve been fortunate enough to have a set of skills, or a set of talents, that we all have that are here, and try to make the most of it and try to impact people in a positive way.”

It’s a compelling message, delivered with a casual look by Earl in response to a question about his Christian faith, as we chat during a break at England’s Costa Brava training camp, preparing for the autumn series which brings New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan to Twickenham on consecutive weekends.

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As Earl puts it: “I’m really not one to say, ‘this is how you live your life or don’t live your life.’ What I can say is that I like to live my life a certain way—or try to, I don’t always succeed – and it’s nice to have that, and if someone wants to talk about it, that’s good.”

In this way, he makes it comfortable to bring up a subject that is often taboo, or too personal or sensitive or controversial. To understand a little more about this 26-year-old of Saracens who has shot to prominence with his club and country over the last 18 months or so.

Earl says his family wasn’t very religious – went to church on Christmas Eve, that sort of thing – but he was a teenage boarder at Tonbridge School in Kent, stressing about exams and life in general, when the daily walk to and from chapel turned into something Other; something more effective and appealing.

“I came to my faith and my religion quite late in life,” he says. “I was confirmed when I was 17 or 18.

“I asked ‘what is this about? why are people invested in this?’ And the lessons, the morale that you get, the perspective that you get is huge.

“I found a lot of comfort in that, as a very grounding, humble companion, safety, sounding board. You have something to come back to, from the highs and lows of professional sports, the frustrations you can have – whether it’s selection, relationships you can have in rugby, injuries or setbacks.

“It’s nice to have something bigger than sports, something bigger than family at the end of the day. That you’re here for a bigger purpose. That there’s something else, a reason why you’re here.”

Earl goes to church midweek or on a Sunday, matches permitting, at St Peter’s in Notting Hill. Sometimes he is accompanied by his teammate Maro Itoje. Is it a traditional C of E mass? “No, a very bizarre service,” Earl says, smiling.

“A band playing, a few weeks, and a really young, progressive, innovative service. It’s cool. I’m not a big singer, I’m pretty happy at the back and taking it all in.”

Earl doesn’t read the Bible “as much as I’d like,” but he does right now Joshua: A parable for today by Joseph Girzone.

“It is a modern parable about the life of Jesus. How he would be received in modern society. I really enjoy it.”

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He has a tattoo of a cross on the inside of his right bicep. “I got it when I was 18 – I had a cross on a necklace that broke, took it into a tattoo parlor and said ‘do it’. I didn’t tell my mum but she saw it when I was playing.”

Looking back, Earl says he was a “terrible” loser and winner, as a boy, in “non-stop golf” and cricket with his younger brother James, who is now a professional golfer in the United States and is traveling over for New York. Zealand match.

Earl played Kent under-13s cricket with future England batsman Zak Crawley, who remains a friend; he is a four-handicap golfer; he supports Arsenal and enjoyed attending the recent win over PSG; he loves watching Australian rugby league and relished the chance in Spain to chat with Cameron Ciraldo, head coach of NRL side Canterbury Bulldogs and guest at England training.

“I would love to have played league but it’s too late now,” says Earl. But he develops a new athletic ability.

After watching a Ronnie O’Sullivan TV documentary and going to the British Masters at Alexandra Palace, he began weekly, two-hour snooker lessons with Sean O’Sullivan (no relation) in St Pancras, near the Earl’s home.

His best break so far? “It’s 42. If I get over 50, I’ll treat myself.” What will it be? “A better signal.”

You feel sure that half a century is not far away. In rugby, Earl had to fight his way through. Initially unable to marry his talent with the right application at Saracens, it all worked out for the 2023 World Cup when he was England’s first-choice No.8 ahead of club-mate Billy Vunipola.

He reveled on the biggest stage and found critics clamoring for his fist-pumping celebrations of seemingly innocuous moments.

“What we try to do as an England team, when we’re defending or when we’re kicking, we want to get the ball back as quickly as possible so we can give people like Marcus (Smith), Manny (Feyi-Waboso), George Furbank the chance to run and express yourself.

“So however we get the ball back is brilliant. It doesn’t have to be a game-winning turnover or an interception. The smallest knock-on, the smallest non-straight line-out, which was being jovialized, is huge for us as a team. “

So it was never a frivolous thing? “Sometimes it is,” he says with another wink. “But it’s a part of me.”

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At 6ft 1in, Earl isn’t as big as many Test No 8s – and he’s generally an open flanker for his club – but he’s quicker across the ground than most and so skilled as a support player and carrier that he can cover as a center.

“There is little or no difference between seven and eight,” he says. “Some nuances around scrums and set-pieces, but I grew up with eight when I was young, so I’m not too unfamiliar with it. And people you play with make it easier.

“At the club, Tom Willis makes the most incredible bearing and hard graft. And then to come here and play with Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South – all very different players, but with their own skills, it means you can just be yourself. I’ll wear whatever number the team needs.”

To the point that it is a hybrid center? And should we just get rid of the numbers one through 15? “You have to have some sort of order in this game!” says Earl. “The coverage center might allow a different selection policy, which is fine, but above my grade.”

Earl knows where his priorities are, and also that he’s still learning, still finding that balance amid the shifting sands of the sport.

He has a “burning desire” to help England succeed and we’re halfway through a question about autumn goals when he says: “Four wins out of four. You can’t be at Twickenham, the Allianz Stadium, and expect to lose can you? We must be really hard to beat there. It’s a big deal for us, something we’re proud of.”

Still, going back to that personal prayer before the game, Earl describes it as: “Remember, it’s not the be-all and end-all. Just enjoy being out there and enjoy helping your teammates, and enjoy trying to win.”