Exeter’s gain is a big loss for Wales
With a surname like his, Tom O’Flaherty sounds as though he ought to be a godsend for Ireland, especially the Gaeltacht areas along the Wild Atlantic Way. If only it was that simple.
For all their expertise in genealogy and success in tracking down likely lads long lost to distant shores, the Irish Exiles appear to have been unable as yet to find an ancestral link for a wing who helped Exeter win the Champions Cup two years ago.
O’Flaherty’s apprenticeship as a part-timer in the Welsh League suggests that the Londoner of Jamaican heritage could just as easily have been entitled to wear red as green. That chance, too, has gone with the wind.
One of the best uncapped wings in the game, O’Flaherty learnt the rudiments of the trade as a teenage student at Cardiff University. He scored four tries in four matches for the Cardiff club team in the Welsh Premiership before joining Bridgend Ravens the following season.
Wales acknowledged the newcomer’s potential by inviting him to join the other likely lads at a camp for the national under-20 squad. While their interest did not extend beyond that one camp, O’Flaherty pressed on regardless with a change of club.
At 19 he was on the big stage at the Principality Stadium for Bridgend against Pontypridd in the 2015 Welsh Cup final, not merely a member of the cast but scorer of the try that won the match.
A total of 18 tries at Bridgend at marginally less than one a game earned him promotion to the Ospreys’ regional squad. He made his debut on Armistice Day 2016, against Harlequins in the AngloWelsh Cup and followed it up a week later with two tries in a decisive win over Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park.
Ospreys, then run by head coach Steve Tandy, liked what they saw and offered O’Flaherty a contract. Exeter also liked what they saw and did likewise except they were able to offer the incentive of joining a club driven by serious ambition.
“Exeter for me was the better choice,’’ O’Flaherty says. “Most of all, I wanted to play in the Premiership. I had to bide my time during the first season amidst some stiff competition but it has turned out to be the right choice.’’
He has one European and one English title to his name with every chance of regaining both by the end of the season. He could not have achieved that had he stayed at the Ospreys or moved to any other Welsh region.
Because he lived there as a student, none of that time counted towards what was then a three-year
“Exeter for me was the better choice... it has turned out to be the right choice”
residency qualification, since raised to five. Staying in Wales to qualify for Wales on the off-chance that he might be good enough was never an option.
“My mum wasn’t born in Wales but she was raised in North Wales, around Colwyn Bay. That was how I came to be picked for the under-20’s camp during my last year at school (Dulwich College).
“I have no idea where my surbeing name came from other than from my dad’s side in the Caribbean. My grandmother was a nurse who came to this country from Jamaica.’’
At 27, the wing with the Irish name and the Welsh background knows that the only route towards international recognition remaining open to him is the one he has had all along, with England. As to his prospects on the Red Rose front, O’Flaherty is disarmingly honest.
“I have no idea,’’ he says. “I just crack on with what I’m doing. I was made aware a while back that I was considered as part of a wider selection for a summer tour but I haven’t actually spoken to any of the England coaches.’’
Eddie Jones’ revolving door selection policy has seen no fewer than six winging it for England this season: Adam Radwan, Jonny May, Joe Marchant, Manu Tuilagi, Max Malins and one of O’Flaherty’s teammates, Jack Nowell.
Scores of players with Irish heritage have been capped elsewhere, most notably in Australia (O’Connors, O’Donnells, O’Neills) and New Zealand (O’Brien, O’Callaghan, O’Halloran).
Wales capped Aberavon scrumhalf Tony O’Connor at the start of the Sixties and Cardiff prop John O’Shea at the end of them but nobody since. England have to go back a lot longer for their last O’ – Arthur O’Neill from Teignmouth capped in the front row at Cardiff in 1901.