Waldrom sets his sights high

By Steve Grace
20/2/17

Exeter Chiefs No. 8 Thomas Waldrom insists his sights are firmly set on bringing silverware back to Sandy Park this season.

The image of Waldrom crossing the whitewash has been an almost constant one with the 33-year-old topping the Aviva Premiership Rugby try-scoring charts in the past two seasons with hauls of 16 and 13, but the Kiwi-born ace is focusing on an even bigger goal this term.

The Devon club reached their first-ever Twickenham Final last season only to lose 28-20 as Saracens successfully defended their crown.

But Rob Baxter’s charges look well placed for another assault on the title having moved level on 49 points with Saracens following a 48-32 win against Worcester Warriors, while they also have an Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final against Harlequins to look forward to next month.

Exeter Chiefs won the Anglo-Welsh Cup back in 2014 and Waldrom is targeting yet more silverware in this campaign too.

“The boys have gone out there and done a great job in the Anglo-Welsh Cup,” he said. “You want to play every game, but we have a big squad so you have to rotate It’s a great chance for the young guys and that’s what we’ve been seeing across the Anglo-Welsh weekends. It shows that everyone is hungry to play.

“We had a slow start in both Europe and Aviva Premiership Rugby, not able to find that rhythm to get where we wanted to go, but we’ve been finding what works for us each week and over the past three or four months we’ve been back to where we want to be.

“It’s about giving it momentum now, everyone buying into what has given us those victories and not letting off which we perhaps may have done earlier in the season.

“We’re in the top half of the table so things are in our hands, and that’s what you want to be able to perform, it’s in our control and you don’t want to be relying on other results. We’ve had a few injuries in the back row, some guys out for long periods of time, but we’ve got guys coming back and that adds to the competition in the squad. We want to keep progressing and we’re eyeing up getting one step further than last year, so we want to keep performing well each week.”

Waldrom was speaking at the launch of this year’s Aviva #DriveSafer campaign alongside team-mates Olly Woodburn and Ollie Devoto.

As part of the campaign, Aviva and all 12 Premiership Rugby clubs are highlighting the dangers of dangerous driving caused by distractions, with a particular focus on the use of mobile phones.

Waldrom said: “There really is no excuse for using a mobile phone while driving. The three of us wanted to put Exeter Chiefs behind Aviva’s #DriveSafer campaign, it’s a very important one and we’re glad to be part of it.”

 

Exeter Chiefs are proud to support Aviva, title sponsor of Premiership Rugby, on their #DriveSafer campaign and help raise awareness of dangerous driving. Download the Aviva Drive app to see how safe your driving is.