Waldrom has plenty in the tank
Thomas Waldrom has always seen the bright side of his rugby life. So when he does the math, and figures out he started his provincial career when some of his current Wellington Lions team-mates were still in their nappies, he has a chuckle.
When it comes to Thomas ‘‘the Tank Engine’’, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
So now, at the ripe old age of 35, as he comes full circle back to Wellington to put the finishing touches on a career that was launched with the Lions back in 2001, he does so with a smile and as much of a spring in the step as he can muster with the miles he has on the clock.
Waldrom, a loose forward, has spent the last eight seasons in England, the first four with the Leicester Tigers and the last four with the Exeter Chiefs whom he helped morph into one of the success stories of the Premiership. He also earned four caps with England between 2012 and 2013.
Now, for a fellow who has also logged time with the Hurricanes and Crusaders in Super Rugby and Hawke’s Bay at the provincial level, the symmetry of a return to Wellington to round things out seemed only fitting.
Waldrom made 80 appearances for the Lions (as well as 14 for Hawke’s Bay, 30 for the Hurricanes and 26 for the Crusaders) and coming back to where it all began appealed as the right way to sign off.
‘‘I knew we were coming back to New Zealand,’’ he told Stuff at yesterday’s Mitre 10 Cup launch in Auckland. ‘‘My wife [Emma] gave me an extra year. We’d said after three years at Exeter we’ll go back, and we made the final, but didn’t win it. So I was ‘I need one more year’.
‘‘She said ‘OK, do one more year, then I’m leaving, I’m taking the kids, and you can come or not’.’’
When Wellington showed interest in bringing him back to fill the void left by Brad Shields’ departure (to England, of course), let’s just say a deal was swiftly struck that left all parties feeling happy about the outcome.
‘‘I’m still Thomas the Tank, and I’m still going around,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve really enjoyed my time in England and this is another chapter. It’s a level of rugby I enjoy. I know it’s going to be fast and you hear it’s a young man’s competition . . . but it’s nice to have an older player there to add some experience.’’
He’s there to be a mentor and a calm head in frantic moments. But he’s still a competitor at heart, too. ‘‘Once you cross the white line for training and games your mentality changes. I definitely want to be involved, and I’m not here to make up numbers.’’