'Very bad' leg infection led to surgery - Ewels

England and Bath lock Charlie Ewels said a leg infection he picked up earlier in the season was so bad he was unsure for a time if it would lead to the loss of his foot.

Ewels missed seven weeks of matches through December and January because of the infection, which required him to have a spell in hospital.

"It was very bad, I spent the week in hospital on an IV drip and had surgery at the end to cut out all the infection," Ewels said.

"It was humbling - one day I was fine and the next day I was lying there on a ward and not really 100% knowing for about 12 hours if I was going to keep my foot or not."

Ewels returned for Bath's Prem win against Gloucester at the end of January and has played in both their recent wins against Saracens and Sale following the league's pause for the Six Nations.

The 30-year-old said doctors were not able to determine what initially caused the infection.

"It was a small cut on my left ankle, probably a stud - I don't really know," Ewels said.

"We tested what the bacteria was that got in there to check I was on the right antibiotics but we never found a source.

"We run around outside, there's fertilizers on pitches, there's mud, there's all sorts so where and what got in we don't know.

"I was very well looked after club wise and I spent my time in an NHS hospital and I'm very grateful for the people who looked after me."

The 2025-26 campaign has been a disrupted one for Ewels, who said he has "never had a season like this".

He came back to Bath following a successful summer tour with the England team, starting both Test wins in Argentina.

But a knee injury suffered in their second Prem game ruled him out for seven weeks, before he made his comeback with England, coming off the bench during the Autumn internationals.

After another three games for Bath, though, he was back on the sidelines with the infection, all-but ending any hope he had of challenging for a spot with England during the Six Nations and with the league then taking an eight-week break.

"The Six Nations block for me then probably came at the wrong time, that's probably when I would have been playing rugby," he said.

Bath face Saracens for the second time in two weeks on Saturday, this time in the European Champions Cup last 16, as the reigning Prem champions look to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2015.

They thrashed their London rivals 62-15 in the recent meeting at the Rec, and Bath will again have home advantage on their side for the latest fixture.

"This will be a different test, knockout rugby always feels different," Ewels said.

"All the work you do through pre-season through the first two big blocks of the season is to try and put yourself into knock-out game.

"The hard work we did then has led us to this now and this is the opportunity that's right in front of us."