By Wales Online

Exeter Chiefs legend Dave Ewers has come out of retirement in a bid to represent Zimbabwe ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.

The back-row forward – who stands at 6ft 4in and weighs in at 19st 10in – hung up his boots at the end of last season, following a year-long stint with the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship.

His spell in South Africa came after he spent 13 years with Exeter, winning two Premiership titles and the Champions Cup, with a season with Ulster coming in between.

However, Ewers appears to have decided to pull his boots on again, with the 35-year-old joining the Zimbabwe camp ahead of two Tests against Zambia over the coming weeks.

While he spent his entire professional career in England, he was born and raised in Zimbabwe, leaving the country at the age of 13 to live with his grandparents in Devon as he fled Robert Mugabe’s regime.

Ewers was previously selected in the England squad to face the Barbarians in the summer of 2014, while he was called up to Eddie Jones’ Six Nations squad less than two years later.

While he also represented England Saxons later that year, he never got the chance to play Test rugby, but now appears to be putting himself back in the mix to represent the country of his birth at next year’s World Cup.

It is, of course, early days for Ewers, with Zimbabwean media reporting that he has joined the camp as a triallist.

But if he can prove himself to national selectors and win a place in the squad, the number eight – who scored 40 tries for Exeter in 226 appearances – could find himself facing both England and Wales next autumn.

Zimbabwe will appear at the expanded World Cup in Australia next year, having qualified for the tournament for only the third time in their history and the first time since 1991.

They have been drawn alongside England, Wales and Tonga in Pool F, with their first World Cup game in over 35 years coming against Steve Tandy’s side in Adelaide on October 2.

The match will not only kick off the pool but represent the first meeting of the two sides since 1998, when Wales beat the hosts 49-11 in Harare during their tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

They had only met twice previously, with Wales winning both games during their 1993 tour of Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Zimbabwe’s World Cup campaign will also see them take on England in Adelaide before facing the Tongans in Townsville.