O'Connor signs for the Chiefs

By Mark Stevens
19/7/23

Exeter Chiefs newcomer Eoin O’Connor says he cannot wait to ‘make his mark’ with his new club after sealing a summer switch from Munster Rugby.

The 22-year-old forward is Rob Baxter’s latest new addition to the playing ranks at Sandy Park ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

Highly-rated back in his native Ireland, O’Connor is certainly a formidable force, standing at 6ft 7ins and topping the scales at 17 stone, and heads to Devon having played for the province in both the United Rugby Championship, as well as the Heineken Champions Cup.

“It’s a great opportunity for me, especially with the squad we have here,” said the Waterford-born lock. “It’s a young squad, but having chatted with Rob [Baxter] he outlined the vision of the club moving forward and I was very excited by that.

“I’ve had four incredible years at Munster, coming straight out of school into their Academy, and learnt so much from the coaches and players like Tadhg Beirne, RG Snyman and Fineen Wycherley. Others too like Craig Casey and Peter O’Mahony, they were brilliant in terms of my development and for getting advice off.”

However, the chance to test himself in a new environment and a new league across the Irish Sea was something that clearly appealed to O’Connor.

“I wouldn’t say I know too much about the Premiership,” he added. “Obviously, we’ve faced English teams in Europe, including the Chiefs, so you get to know a little about them, but I’m looking forward to going to the different grounds, playing different teams and learning more about their rivalries.

“Having Saracens first up, you want to test yourselves against the big boys early on and there are no bigger than them.”

Equally, the Chiefs themselves have a strong reputation across both the English and European game and O’Connor says the draw of the club was something that he was keen to experience.

“The Chiefs are one of the biggest teams in England and they got to the last four in Europe last season,” he said. “What they’ve done and achieved over the last few years speaks for itself, so I knew I would be coming to a great club.

“Having been here a few weeks, you can see similarities with Munster. They’re a proud club, decent squad and the fans’ you know are fully behind the team, so it’s great.”

One man delighted to have O’Connor on board is Baxter himself and the Chiefs Director of Rugby is keen to see what his latest signing will bring to the mix.

“Like with all the players we sign, we’ve done a lot of research into Eoin and watched quite a few of his games,” said Baxter. “I’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re looking for a younger stable of players moving forward and Eoin fits that bill.

“Watching those games though, it’s clear he has a lot of talent, but there is still a bit more for us to unearth over the coming years. We’ve got a couple of things we need to work on in terms of making him more robust, both for training and in games, but we’ve done that before with others.

“That said, his work around the set-piece and his desire to work hard and stay in the fight, those are things that really stood out when I looked at him and I believe he has all the qualities to be a very good Premiership player for us.”