By Barney Burnham
September 24 2005

Wasps flanker Tom Rees won’t forget his 21st birthday in a hurry. On September the 10th, he scored two outstanding tries in a televised Guinness Premiership match against Leicester, and was named as Sky Sports Man of the Match. Sadly, he also picked up an ankle ligament injury, which will keep him out for a few weeks. His birthday, on the following day, was marked by press reports which ranged from complimentary to ecstatic.

The former England under-21 captain has been talking to Barney Burnham about a momentous weekend.

BB: Let’s begin with the most important thing, Tom. How’s the rehab going?

TR: It’s going pretty well. I’ve just had a cortisone injection, which will help reduce the swelling and
help the body to recover faster. I’m looking to go back into training in a couple of days. Next week is when it should really begin to kick in and, fingers crossed, I hope to be back in about 3 weeks - maybe a little longer, but it’s a nice target to aim at, at the moment.

BB: Let’s look back to that game against Leicester. The last time you’d played at the Causeway, you’d picked up an injury which kept you out of the Premiership final. You go out and score two tries and collect the man of the match award, despite being on the pitch for under an hour. Can you recall what went through your mind when you suffered the injury?

TR: The memory’s still fairly fresh, actually. As far as I’m aware, I’ve never broken a bone (touch wood) - so I don’t know what it feels like. When it happened, I looked down and saw my ankle bending in three different ways! Structurally, it looked fine, but it just hurt like hell! So, initially, the only issue was the pain. I got back inside and got assessed pretty quickly. The game was still going on, so the physios had to go back out and I was left on my own for about five minutes in the changing room. I just sat down and took stock. I’d been there before, a few months earlier and I think that’s made me a lot better at dealing with injuries. Last time, I didn’t do too well and I was pretty down for a while. That’s just wasted energy. This time it was just a case of “Long season ahead, try to get back and fit as soon as possible.” That was pretty much what I was thinking - as soon as it had stopped hurting enough for me to think clearly!

BB: The remarkable thing was that you turned up for a post-match interview. I don’t think many of us were expecting that!

TR: Yes. They chucked me on crutches and I went back out and watched the rest of the game. To be honest, I think the injury probably helped me get the Man of the Match award. It probably added a little bit more drama to the whole thing. It started raining afterwards anyway, and I don’t like the rain too much! So it was obviously the right time to come off.

BB: It wasn’t the ideal preparation for your 21st birthday, was it? I suppose the blow was softened by the rave reviews you got in the Sunday papers, which must have been rather bitter-sweet - but you knew by then that the prognosis was better than it might have been.

TR: Yes. I’d had a scan in the evening, after the game, so I already knew it wasn’t going to be too serious. There was no break. Like I said, I would have been wasting energy if I’d let myself get upset and down about the whole thing.

I’d arranged lunch with my family and girlfriend. Then it was a round of pitch and putt with my friends. I was determined that the ankle wouldn’t get in the way of all that, as it wasn’t that serious. So I just went out and had a bit of a laugh. Then, at the end of the day, my mates plonked a big wrapped present in front of me. I opened it up and it turned out that they’d gone out and bought all the Sunday papers for me. It was extremely surreal and very amusing, but also a really nice gesture from them. It was certainly a birthday I’ll remember and I have a very nice memento, although I would have liked to have stayed on the pitch for a little bit longer.

BB: How hard is it for a young player, still making his way in the game, to wake up to the fact that the press has turned him into an overnight star?

TR: (laughing) Like I said, I think the injury added a bit to the drama of the whole thing. I was in the right place at the right time for the tries. The first one was a team move. The second one, the opportunity was there and I had the chance to take it. As much as I am flattered and quite pleased with the reports, I think the press do tend to latch on to something. To be honest, I thought I played better against Leeds last season, but it wasn’t a televised game, it wasn’t as big as a Wasps-Leicester clash, so it didn’t generate as much attention. Once I get fit again, as far as I’m concerned, I’ll be starting from scratch and just trying to repeat what happened and take things on to another level.

BB: In this country, the press does have rather a reputation for building people up and then knocking them down, as soon as they show the slightest drop in form.

TR: Yes, in that way I was probably fortunate, as I didn’t get the chance to muck up the following week! I suppose I’m still at the age where it’s really flattering to read how well you’ve done - maybe I’ll always be at that age. It’s also a bit of a knock to the confidence if those same papers say “Why on earth was he on the pitch?”. Ultimately, the people whose opinions really matter are the coaches - and I know whether I’ve done myself justice. There may be other factors the press aren’t privy to, and as long as I’m happy and the coaches are happy, then there won’t be a problem.

BB: There’s a lot of competition in the back row at Wasps at the moment, isn’t there?

TR: (chuckling) Yes, there is - and it’s really what you want. You’ll get clubs where there is an established back row and nobody really coming through to challenge them. I think the presence of guys behind Lol, Joe and Jonny is what spurs them on to play as well as they do.

From our point of view, we want to be playing in the team week in, week out. So we have to go out and match the levels they set and look to go beyond them. The competition is good for Wasps, because it forces performances from you if you want to get in to the team in the first place, let alone go on and play well to keep your place.

BB: I was discussing you with Jonny a couple of seasons ago. I told him I was looking forward to the prospect of the two of you playing together, and he said “When he comes through, I’m going!” How supportive has he been?

TR: He’s been really good. Coming through age groups, I’ve never really been in the situation of having that much competition for places. So it was quite a new situation for me to be in. Not just being number two, but having to compete for a place - week in, week out. I didn’t really know what to expect, but Jonny’s been great. He’s fierce and competitive and one of the guys in the squad who’ll always give it his all, whatever the situation - both in training and on match days. But there’s no malice there at all - it is genuinely healthy competition, which will hopefully bring the best out of both of us. And he has helped me a lot, along the way. He and Joe have done a lot of extra skills training with me. They’ve helped me with my tackling and my contact technique. It’s really benefited me. Hopefully, it’s helped them too, and that means the club really benefits.

BB: So, all in all, you’re pretty happy with life at the moment.

TR: I’m getting paid to do my hobby, so I can’t complain too much! I can’t imagine many people dream of going to work in The City - I suppose some might - but I am living out the childhood dream of many, so I can’t knock it. As long as it’s going well, it’s going to be fun.