Opportunity knocks for Cairns in Cup
By Mark Stevens
11/2/23
Opportunity knocks this weekend for Tom Cairns and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates as they look to secure themselves a place in this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup final .
In a competition which has served the Chiefs well over the years, it’s the Class of 2022/23 that have the chance to write another chapter in the success story of the Devon club.
Whereas in 2014 it was the likes of Henry Slade, Jack Nowell and Luke Cowan-Dickie coming into the senior ranks at Sandy Park, these days Cairns is part and parcel of Exeter’s next generation of young players, all of whom harbour the same hopes of picking up their first piece of major silverware.
“It’s a big opportunity, not just for me, but for all of us as a group,” said the young scrum-half. “The Premiership Rugby Cup is massive for all young players, simply because it puts you on a platform to showcase your talents, as well as show the coaches that you can handle different pressure situations.”
Having overcome Westcountry rivals Bristol Bears, Bath and Gloucester in the pool stages, Cairns knows the Chiefs will tackle a formidable force in the shape of Sale Sharks to reach next month’s final.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were playing at Bristol in that first game, yet here we are now, just one game away from hopefully getting ourselves into the final,” added Cairns. “As I said, this game is a huge opportunity not just for us as players, but for the whole club in general.
“This week you can feel the buzz about the place - there is a real excitement within the changing room. Training has been really good, especially the accuracy and the tempo with how we’ve done things, but now we’ve just got to take all of that out onto the field and put in a big performance this weekend.”
Putting the hard yards in training is nothing new for Cairns, whose first real introduction to rugby came at nearby Teignmouth RFC, the same club which has also started the flegling careers of fellow Chiefs, Joe and Sam Simmonds, as well as Max Norey.
Since arriving at Sandy Park, the 20-year-old has worked closely under the guidance of skills coach Ricky Pellow and the club’s battalion of other number nines.
“Ricky has been awesome, ever since I arrived at the club,” added Cairns. “Equally, I’ve been able to learn off all the nines, guys like the Maunder brothers, Stu Townsend, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, even Nic White and Will Chudley were here for a bit. All of them have been like role models and given me advice which I’ve done my best to use to improve my game.”
As well as developing his rugby, Cairns is one of a number of players who have spent the past few years combining training and playing with the Chiefs with that ofstudying at the University of Exeter.
“When I was younger, I’ll be honest, I never had any intention of going to uni,” he said. “But coming to the club - and with the links they have - it’s just worked so well. There are a few of us doing degrees in Sport Science, Business, even Liberal Arts and between us it’s giving us a career in rugby, as well as planning for a career after rugby.”
It’s a production line that clearly works on all fronts, a point underlined this weekend with fellow students Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza both starting for Wales in their Guinness Six Nations Championship clash with Scotland.
“They are kind of leading the way for all of us,” said Cairns. “It’s great to see them doing so well. They’ve both been playing in the Premiership and Champions Cup, Daf even captained the side in the Premiership, so it shows there is a pathway for any of us to follow.
“Personally, I just want to make the most of any opportunities I get. I didn’t have too many last season, but this year I’ve had more and this weekend is another chance for me and all the boys.”