England vs France: Chris Ashton ready to make up for lost time after realising how much he missed the Six Nations

On 23 February 2018, Chris Ashton was preparing for for his Six Nations return. Five years had come and gone since the England wing had last played in the famous championship, and his international exile was stretching into its fourth year when the call came.

Of course, this call was not from Eddie Jones, but from the BBC. The offer was to join their commentary team for France’s Six Nations clash against Italy in Marseille, and at that point Ashton accepted as his international career was very much dead in the water.

“I went with JP Pietersen to commentate on the game and thinking that was a year ago, yeah, I’d never have thought we’d be sat here with me about to play France,” said Ashton ahead of his first Six Nations start this weekend against the French since the harrowing 30-3 defeat against Wales in 2013.

Ashton is very much a part of the England set-up once again. Having returned to international rugby during the autumn internationals last November, he scored against the All Blacks before coming on last weekend in a late cameo during the win over Ireland. These are England’s biggest games, and Eddie Jones appears more than happy to trust Ashton when it comes to them.

With a record of 20 tries in 43 international tests, it’s easy to see why the Australian does trust him.

“I think you have to show an unrelenting desire to want to play for your country, which he’s done,” Jones explained. “He brings us something different that we think is going to be valuable at the start of the game. Perseverance is a big thing in high performance sport.

“He’s a finisher. We feel that maybe early in the game, as he did against New Zealand, he can find the line for us. That could be important. He’s got a good awareness of opportunities. It’s not something that you coach, it’s something players develop at a young age and then continue to develop that, he’s a try poacher.”

It could have been so different for Ashton has he chose to stay in Toulon and play out his three-year contract. After turning his back on international rugby after England seemingly did the same with him, Ashton quickly realised what he was missing. The rugby league convert has had to sit and watch five consecutive Six Nations tournaments since his last championship appearance - admittedly not one he wants to remember - and despite finding his feet in France by breaking the Top 14 record for most tries in a single season with his 24 in 23 matches, the carrot was dangled to return with Sale Sharks and reignite his international career.

It was, for Ashton, very much a case of not knowing what he had until it had gone.

“I think everyone’s in that boat,” he explained. “When you’re younger and you’re in the team, you never think it’s going to be your last game. You think you’re going to have good, long years at it, but that wasn’t the case for me.

“I definitely understand what it’s like to not be involved and not have the shirt, so it’s a big privilege for me to be back in.”

That Jones decided to make changes to his side was no surprise given that Maro Itoje was ruled out with the knee injury that he suffered last week - although the claim that the lock “was almost available for selection this week” certainly did raise a few eyebrows, not least among the Wales camp who face England in two weeks’ time. But the announcement that Jones had made more than one change was something of a shock when last weekend’s performance in Dublin is taken into account.

“The team was fantastic last week,” added Ashton, who had to wait until the 74th minute before taking to the field at the Aviva Stadium to replace Jack Nowell, the man who he has taken the No 14 shirt off of. “We did exactly what we planned to do. Jack was great too – he did everything he needed to do and more, as always.

“I think Eddie just likes to switch in me and Jack. We both have different strengths and this week Eddie gets the feeling that it might play to my strengths, like it did for Jack in Ireland.

“We have a good relationship. Everyone wants to start, but in the past few years the finishers have had a big impact for us. It was the same last week. When the guys went on at about 60 minutes, you’d never have known that they had been changed on. That’s where the squad is at the minute. There’s good competition for places and a good feeling in the squad.”