We might start with Sandy Park’s standing ovation for one of the season’s most exciting European moments. Tom Wyatt, Exeter’s elusive young full-back, can be seen thwacking the ground three times with his right fist in celebration of the thrilling 56th-minute try that helped Exeter secure a home Champions Cup quarter-final against the Stormers on Saturday.
Or, we can retrace our steps and consider the improbable Cinderella-like journey that brought him here. In the hills and narrow lanes of west Somerset, sporting activities are popular. But the path to national prominence can be more isolating and convoluted than in cities. Wyatt, a 23-year-old farmer’s son from Wiveliscombe, or “Wivey,” took a tortuous route to get here.
The story of Wyatt is another cautionary example of the dislocated adolescent development pathways in English rugby.
Four years ago, he was playing for North Petherton at level eight. No invitation to join the juvenile academy of a Premier League club had materialized. The only time he attended a trial for Bath’s age-group setup, at the age of 16, he was sent away with the dullest two words in a coach’s vocabulary: too undersized.
The unaffected country lad went to the Champions Cup quarterfinals after shining in Exeter’s Premiership Cup win last month. Not since 1935, when Harold Gimblett missed the morning bus from Bicknoller, hitched a ride, and scored a century in 63 minutes batting at No. 8 on his Somerset debut, has this picturesque rural backwater hoisted a pint of cider and toasted a more evocative local story.
A stroke of good fortune drew him to Exeter’s attention. Nic Sestaret, one of his instructors at Taunton School, formerly played for the Chiefs and was aware that Exeter was assembling an “outreach” team of wannabe locals to play against the Royal Navy. Wyatt’s name was put forward by Sestaret, who was also involved at North Petherton, and the former schoolboy fly-half was elevated to the next level – “All I can remember is being smashed by a big Fijian”
Rob Baxter, the director of rugby at Exeter, was impressed by his perseverance and invited him to senior squad training.
Contributing to Taunton Titans’ 2020 promotion to National League One bolstered morale further, but then Covid descended. Wyatt continued to work locally for a steel fabrication company and, to stay in shape, constructed an improvised gym for himself on the family farm: “I built it out in the shed with a few logs, one barbell, and a few pieces of two-by-two.”
However, something within him encouraged him to remain faithful. “You must keep showing up and putting on your boots,” he says. If you continue to believe in yourself, you will always have an opportunity.
He inked a dual-registered loan deal with Cornish Pirates, a five-hour round-trip from the familiar fields of home, despite his fondness for a few beers with his friends in Wivey and a game of village cricket in Winsford on Exmoor.
So began the first three seasons of 5 am. In the predawn gloom, he pursues a dream so far away. If his weekly journey to Penzance was made easier by the purchase of a pre-owned vehicle – “I bought Jonny Hill’s BMW from him when he left for Sale” – he also had ample time to consider his career options. “There were times when, while driving, I wondered, ‘What am I doing with my life?'”
The Championship is not a site for those seeking financial security who are unfamiliar with it.
Even today, some player contracts are worth less than $10,000 annually. Surprisingly, if a severe injury occurs, there is no safety net provided by the players’ union. However, the league can help young professionals like Wyatt find regular, high-quality rugby. “Physically, it’s a challenging league, and it’s excellent preparation for the next level,” he says. It gave me more time in the saddle.
In addition to affording him the chance to refine the high-ball skills necessary for success at fullback, it exposed him to the realities of rugby life away from Twickenham’s corporate seats. Wyatt is not a political activist, but as Pirates’ benefactor Dicky Evans prepares to stop funding the club, he believes the Championship merits more from English rugby’s powerbrokers. He states succinctly, “There needs to be more money from the top.” It must be administered as a better-funded league.”
Because without the Championship – or the encouragement of selfless coaches at clubs like North Petherton and Taunton Titans – there would be no back-door route for teenage rejects or late developers like Wyatt, who is now alert, versatile 6ft 1in runner competing with the world’s best players. The shrewd Pirates coaches, Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver deserve special credit for assisting the young man’s development, but in the end, it has been largely due to the young man’s tenacity in the face of formidable obstacles.
Consequently, this particular Cinderella has eventually arrived at the ball.
He’s one of Wiveliscombe’s friendliest young pros, despite his lesser fame. The family has farmed in the area for over two centuries, and his grandfather, Wesley, published his first book at the age of 91 last month. God Speed the Plough chronicles a seventy-year career in a field that has changed almost as much as rugby union.
Hopefully, Wyatt Jr.’s tale has many more chapters to come. Starting ahead of Stuart Hogg and Josh Hodge while lining up next to the elite Damian Willemse is notable. Nonetheless, if Wyatt scores another hat trick and Exeter advances to the Champions Cup semi-finals, the story will not be limited to ordinary country residents. “Wivey,” North Petherton, the Titans, the Pirates, and all the other outlying tinderboxes that keep English rugby burning.
