Christ Tshiunza returns bigger and better than ever – Toulouse beware

After a lengthy absence the forward is optimistic that Exeter can reach the heights – starting with the Champions Cup quarter-final

The recent instruction which Exeter’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, has been giving to Christ Tshiunza sounds straightforward enough.
“He has to keep it simple. He is a very thoughtful guy around rugby. As much as we laugh about some guys and say they need to be a bit more of a student, he needs to let himself just play. That lets his athletic ability really shine. Don’t overthink things, just go with the flow of it,” Baxter explains.
There is one obvious issue, however. If you are as inquisitive about the opposition as Tshiunza, eagerly digesting the information supplied in team meetings and taking that onto the training field and visualising how certain scenarios might play out in a match, finding that off switch might not be easy. Exeter’s meetings are extensive, with some lasting up to two hours. 
“I take the time to almost allow myself to visually learn,” Tshiunza explains, adding that he will take a moment in training to process the plays that the non-matchday squad players, pretending to be the opposition, are running against the first team. It all sounds quite heavy, mentally downloading an opponent’s concepts and styles each week, then starting over again. Which is maybe why Tshiunza stresses the following point: “Everyone takes in information differently, but I can proudly say that at the weekend; I’m on it.”
He certainly was against Bath last weekend. The round-of-16 win was only Tshiunza’s second game back from a broken foot which kept him out for five months. Bath, blown out by both the gusty wind and their impressive defensive efforts in the first-half, still had a late chance to snatch the win after another jackal penalty by Sam Underhill led to a lineout on Exeter’s 22. Tshiunza, at the front, poached the ball ahead of Charlie Ewels and Exeter held on.
It was not his first steal of the game either, with Tshiunza also finishing as Exeter’s top tackler (14). “High numbers, high quality,” as Baxter put it. Which makes you wonder what Tshiunza might produce this weekend in the Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulouse with more minutes under his belt. “I want to be a high-achiever, to prove that in a short amount of time I can get back to international level within a couple of games.”
You can often forget just how young certain players are, how much potential is still there. Tshiunza made his Wales debut as a teenager and is still just 22. The size was always there at 6ft 6in but he has returned from that injury layoff with considerably more weight, up by around a stone to put him at around 18-and-a-half, a deliberate move to make Tshiunza as capable of covering at second row as in the back row. George Martin, the England forward, has added a similar amount of weight in recent years to play as more of a lock.
“I see myself as a back-row/second-row hybrid,” says Tshiunza, adding that his previous weight at 17-and-a-half stone “limited my selection options”. Billing himself as an optimist, his injury recovery was “an opportunity to work on myself” and “to get my head right, to get closer to my friends”. He was “proper gutted”, understandably, to miss the Six Nations but the process of absorbing that disappointment has its own value. “I learned a couple of good life lessons, how to handle things not going your way.”
He linked up with Wales for the final weeks of what proved to be a winless Six Nations, continuing his recovery. Wales’ poor performance in the finale against Italy, leading to the wooden spoon, suggested things were badly awry. Tshiunza sees it another way.
“It looked like we weren’t quite ready on the weekend, but I actually thought in terms of training standards and how everything was run, the boys were training really well and were very enthusiastic, really wanted to win and perform for their country,” he said. “There was good morale, a young team with good vibes around the place. I guess that probably softened the blow.”
There is a similarly youthful, positive vibe to Exeter this season – albeit with more obvious success – with the club gunning for the Gallagher Premiership play-offs and Europe’s last eight.
The second and back rows against Toulouse this weekend are made up of Rus Tuima (aged 23, England Under-20s), Dafydd Jenkins (21, Wales captain), Ethan Roots (26, England), Tshiunza and Ross Vintcent (21, Italy). Not forgetting Greg Fisilau on the bench (20, England ‘A’). As a group, they have balance. Jenkins and Tshiunza are there to do the dirty work, clearing rucks “and hitting anything that moves” so that Roots and Vintcent can free themselves up to carry (Roots with aggression, Vintcent with pace). “[Against Bath] it was like eight different cogs turning the same wheel. We’re allowed to express our strengths and abilities,” Tshiunza adds.
If there is an opponent you would feel over-inclined to analyse inside out then it is probably Toulouse, the five-time winners. Exeter are underdogs – hardly a sign of disrespect; who was the last team to be favourites away at Toulouse? – yet that tag has served them well in the past. An alleged rebuild year has delivered far more than expected.
“It’s a massive credit to Rob. His vision is really quite something. He can see things others can’t. He knew this season was not going to be one where we just did OK and built a little base before going after next season,” Tshiunza explains.
“When I came back from the World Cup, you could see that this was no young team or uni team. It was a Premiership-winning team, boys with ambition. A lot of youthful spirit, you could feel that around the place, it was a vibe. And really, I would rather play in a young team like that than an older side with experienced players where it feels like ‘we’ll get through because we’re good’.
“We have proven a lot of people wrong this year. Rob talks about us playing at our best when we’re underdogs and that might just happen this weekend. I think Rob is comfortable [with that tag] and building a team around that. We’re a team now where if you blink, you might just miss it.”
For Tshiunza, bigger and better after his layoff, the message is clear. Switch off, play your game, and impose yourself.