O'Flaherty's rise through the ranks
By Steve Grace
28/2/20
Most of the time, professional sportsmen have to sacrifice a substantial part of their younger years to concentrate on training and improving to succeed at the top.
This was not exactly the case for Exeter Chiefs’ Tom O’Flaherty.
Before signing for the Gallagher Premiership Rugby leaders in 2017, the now 25-year-old played youth rugby for Dulwich College and Blackheath, then attended Cardiff University to study French.
As well as representing the university rugby team in Varsity matches, O’Flaherty played for Bridgend Ravens and believes this period was when he enjoyed the sport the most.
He said: “I really did enjoy playing in my first couple of years at university and at Bridgend. Obviously, I’m having a great time now but when I was at Uni and Bridgend, you didn’t have a care in the world and you’re having a good laugh with your mates and nothing was too serious.
“I’m more than happy the way it’s panned out for me because getting that uni experience is invaluable. You make friends for life at Uni and you have some of the best years of your life.
“I’m happy I managed to fully immerse myself in university and then afterwards pursue rugby professionally. Varsity was a great time. I enjoyed the whole uni experience in general really. Cardiff is a great city and at that stage of your life you’re living away from home, but you don’t have any responsibility.”
In 2015, O’Flaherty had arguably his best moment in a Bridgend shirt when he scored a crucial try in the Swalec Cup final at Principality Stadium, helping his side beat Pontypridd 19-15.
Soon after, the Lambeth-born winger travelled to France to continue his studies while playing for Top 14 outfit Montpellier before returning to Wales for the final year of his course.
He took up joint registration with Bridgend and the Ospreys on his return - an opportunity he insists would have not come about had it not been for his match-winning try in the final.
He said: “I went away to France to continue studying my degree, then when I came back the Ospreys got in touch in my final year at university. That was when I thought this could be a career.
“At the time you don’t really think of them as defining moments but then looking back those sort of moments are the ones that get you noticed by other clubs.”
As his performances were showing, a career at the top level was becoming inevitable. He signed for Ospreys after his final year of studying and continued to excel. O’Flaherty scored against Harlequins for the Welsh side in the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2016 and scored twice against Cardiff Blues the following year.
Exeter Chiefs snapped him up and his rise to rugby’s top level was complete. He soon realised the hard work and adaptation needed to succeed at the 2017 Premiership Rugby champions.
He said: “Those two games (for Ospreys) went quite well for me and gave me a springboard for the Ospreys and ultimately for the Chiefs noticing me as well.
“Once you arrive you have to knuckle down because there is a lot of talent around you and to get into the team it was quite a thing, especially at a club like Exeter. Once you arrive it’s a case of knuckling down and working.”
Since his move to Sandy Park, O’Flaherty has come up with some important scores in the Chiefs’ domestic and European campaigns.
In November, he scored a try and was awarded man of the match in their opening Heineken Champions Cup game way at La Rochelle.
Later that month, O’Flaherty went over for a sensational score against Wasps in a 38-3 win, which has contributed to Exeter’s four-point lead at the top of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby table.
Although the Chiefs have finished top of the table for the past two seasons, this is the first time they have progressed from their Heineken Champions Cup pool since 2016.
Nonetheless, O’Flaherty feels the Chiefs are in good shape for their domestic and European campaigns.
He said: “You can only do what’s in front of you, we aim to do the best we can in every competition, so our aim is to win every game.
“We are in a good position in Europe at the moment, but the coming games are knockout rugby so you’re only as good as you are on the day. I feel like we are in a good place in both competitions, so we are trying to continue our form in both.”
Exeter are up against Northampton Saints in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup, with the two sides among the teams battling it out for the top two spots in the league.
But before the Devon side can turn their attention to Europe they face another test of their Gallagher Premiership Rugby credentials this weekend against Harlequins.
Chiefs appear to be in pole position to reach the end-of-season semi-finals once again yet O’Flaherty is keen to stick to the old adage - one game at a time.
“To be honest we haven’t looked that far ahead at his stage in this season, you’ve got to just count the points throughout the season away from home and at home,” he said.
“So obviously at this stage of the season now they’re always important points, coming off the back of a loss in the Premiership against Sale we just needed to regain our momentum.
“There was no better way to do that than away at Gloucester before beating Saints at home. You can only do what’s in front of you, we aim to do the best we can in every competition.
“Our aim is to win every game, once you’re in those qualification positions then you have to concentrate on the play-offs but for now, we can’t look too far ahead.”
