Six Nations Betting / Ralph Ellis / 20 March 2009 / Leave a comment

Harry Ellis has established himself as Martin Johnson's first choice scrum-half and his performances have been one of England's few Six Nations plus points. Can he inspire his country to Calcutta Cup glory?

For we mere mortals it's impossible to imagine how you could not be excited about playing professional sport. What else could you want in life than to get up every day and train and feel supremely fit - then to run out in front of thousands to strut your stuff in search of the big prizes?

The sad truth is, however, that for many of the people blessed with the talent to enter those arenas it all turns into a chore. Coveted and spoiled by clubs from the age of about ten, they grow up to take it all for granted and somehow stop enjoying what they do. Instead of a labour of love it becomes purely a labour. Slowly their standards slip as they enjoy the rewards for success in their sport more than the sport itself.

Often at the age of about 23 or 24 they hit a watershed. Either they quietly disappear and become only the subject of an occasional "whatever happened to" column. Or they realise what they've got and what they need to do to hang on to it.

That's exactly what seems to have happened to England scrum-half Harry Ellis as he wins his 26th cap tomorrow. Nearly five years after making his international debut he's finally become cemented as Martin Johnson's first choice number nine and has been one of the few big plus points of the Six Nations campaign.

The debate about who should play fly-half goes on, but at least at number nine Johnson now has a name he can write straight onto his team sheet after two years of experiments in which half a dozen different candidates have come and gone. And the Leicester Tigers ace has been telling today's papers that he owes much of his new success to a change in attitude while he was recovering from a serious knee injury.

Ellis needed his cruciate ligaments rebuilt after a sickening collision in a club match against Bristol, and says: "That injury made me appreciate how much I love playing, especially for my country. When I was sitting on the bench in the Autumn I realised what a gap that time out had been. It made me want to make sure I got back and produced the performances to stay there.

"The injury was so severe. It cost me a year of my career, but I also had to teach myself to walk properly again. The lows like that are reminders that you take nothing for granted. I believe in myself but I also play with a sense of enjoyment after missing so much."

Ellis can now top off his comeback season by leading England to the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday. After their sizzling display against France they are as short as [1.16] to follow it up with another win over Scotland. The scrum-half, who ran in two tries against Italy, is a tempting [4.8] to score a try in this game - and a massive [21.0] to be the first try-scorer in the game.

Five things you might not know about Harry Ellis

1. Born in Wigston near Leicester in 1982, his dad Bob was a back row forward for Leicester Tigers and both elder brothers Mark and Robert also played in the scrum

2. At school he was a county champion swimmer, winning medals at 100m freestyle

3. He fancies himself as a budding Lewis Hamilton and goes go-karting in his spare time

4. His cruciate ligament injury was cleared with the help of Bayern Munich's club doctor Hans Muller-Wohlfarth

5. His England rugby profile says he went to University and that's not wrong - but he left Leicester De Montfort with only an HND in Sports Studies rather than a degree