Sparky Thwaites gets a shock
"It's not a bad lifestyle, eh, playing prop; you get to eat a bit more and run a bit less."
Jeff Thwaites
Had you suggested to Jeff Thwaites at the start of this year that within three months he’d be packing his bags for the bright lights of Tokyo and making a Super Rugby debut, he might have asked what drug you were on.
The 25-year-old Bay of Plenty prop was set for another club season with Te Puna, fitting training around his day job as a sparky for ABS Electrical in Tauranga.
But just one day back from his summer holidays, the Chiefs came calling.
That gave Thwaites, previously part of the franchise’s development team, another chance to upskill, spending a couple of weeks as part of the wider squad.
However, things quickly got serious, with a propping injury crisis hitting the team. When Nepo Laulala was the latest casualty, breaking his arm against the Blues earlier this month, Thwaites was in full-time and about to be thrust into action.
‘‘Yeah, it’s pretty unreal eh. Just gone from working a couple of weeks ago to this,’’ a disbelieving, rather bashful Thwaites said.
‘‘The boss is pretty good. He lets me swan in and out and do a bit of part-time.
‘‘[I’ll] just keep in contact and hope I’ve got a job when I go back.’’
Just when that will be is now up in the air, with a door having opened into professional rugby.
The 1.90m, 120kg tighthead was immediately awarded a place in the reserves for last Friday’s match against the Bulls, but in the end didn’t actually get on the park – a rare occurrence in this day and age, when benches are regularly emptied. Not that Thwaites was too bothered.
‘‘Oh nah, that’s how it goes sometimes with debuts, when it’s a tight game like that, and it was definitely going down to the wire,’’ he said of the Chiefs overturning a 28-14 halftime deficit to win 41-28.
Now, after again being named on the bench, Thwaites will be primed to win his first cap when the Chiefs take on the Sunwolves at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Japan’s capital today.
It’s not a bad rise up the ranks for a man who only moved into the front row from the loose forwards a few years back.
‘‘I think one club season we had not a lot of props going around, so I just jumped in and gave it a crack,’’ Thwaites said, before unleashing this golden gem:
‘‘It’s not a bad lifestyle, eh, playing prop; you get to eat a bit more and run a bit less.’’
Thwaites grew up idolising Bay of Plenty players such as Glen Jackson, Wayne Ormond, Colin Bourke and Ben Castle, while his father, Don, played 17 games for the province from 1985-86.
And with fellow Steamers front rowers Aidan Ross, Nathan Harris and Liam Polwart all in the Chiefs’ lineup, Thwaites can ease a few nerves, just focusing on his task ahead.
‘‘It’s just more about learning your role within the team structures and making sure you’ve got that nailed, and then you can just slot in and execute it when you do get your chance,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve just got to keep working hard, and obviously make it pretty seamless when I do fill in, and I can just learn as much as I can off senior boys and coaches.
‘‘You’ve got Hoefty [assistant coach Carl Hoeft] there, he’s the dedicated scrum coach, so after trainings you’re looking at footage with him, so it’s pretty good.’’