When Steve Borthwick was newly appointed as England’s head coach, his two sons, Hunter and Chase, urged him to pick Tommy Reffell – their favourite Leicester player – for the national side. The two youngsters might not have been completely up to speed with international selection criteria – Reffell made his Wales debut in the summer of 2022 – but evidently they know a player when they see one.
For the second week running Reffell produced a stunning performance in the No 7 jersey for Wales. This was just his 15th Test appearance but he has emerged as a key fixture in Warren Gatland’s greenhorn side. Ultimately he ended up on the losing team once more – Wales again unable to string together two halves – but that should take little away from Reffell’s performance. Gatland’s gallant side might have faded in the second half but he did not.
It was Reffell’s trademark turnover that alleviated the early pressure on Wales, near their own tryline, after Freddie Steward’s early break had ignited the Twickenham crowd. Had England found a way over then, it might have been plain sailing for the home side but Reffell picked his moment to clamp on to the ball so well and earned Wales a crucial penalty.
It was also his delightful offload to Tomos Williams that set up Alex Mann’s try and gave Wales a nine-point lead at half-time. Moments earlier he had dived on the loose ball to secure possession and begin a passage of play that eventually resulted in Mann going over. In between those two key interventions he never stopped running, never stopped hitting rucks and galvanised his side, giving them belief that a first Six Nations win at Twickenham in 12 years was within their grasp. He finished as the game’s top tackler with 14 and enhanced his reputation on the international stage no end.
He forms an impressive back row with Mann, who only signed his first professional contract with Cardiff in January, and Aaron Wainwright – who was named man of the match against Scotland – but in the second half Wales could not hit the level they reached in the first. England seized control and Wales did not score a point after the interval, yet Reffell soldiered on.
He charged down George Ford early in the second half and stopped a fresh Ellis Genge from scoring under the posts but he could do little to prevent Fraser Dingwall going over in the left corner to bring England to within a point. Wales were tiring by this stage, though had Rio Dyer held on to Josh Adams’s pass back inside on the right, after a fine break from the impressive Cameron Winnett, it might have been a different story.
England finally took the lead with a penalty from Ford in the 71st minute and Mason Grady’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on essentially halted any hopes that Wales may wrestle the initiative back. With four minutes on the clock and England threatening the try that would put the game to bed, there was Reffell with another turnover, keeping Wales in with a faint shout of pulling off a shock.
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“One of the things we have tried to focus on with him is that we know how good he is defensively and we want him to be comfortable getting the ball in his hands a little bit more, being a running threat, and we saw that last week and see that again,” said Gatland. “I’m absolutely delighted for him because he’s starting to get a nice balance to his game and I think that can take him to the next level. I thought he was absolutely outstanding and he just keeps going for 80 minutes.”
England cannot say they did not see Reffell coming but such is the openside’s form they could do little about it. The England attack coach, Richard Wigglesworth, who replaced Borthwick as director of rugby at Leicester, singled out Reffell as a danger man earlier this week, having seen how the 24-year-old performed in the one-point defeat by Scotland, but knowing it is coming is one thing, stopping it is another. To date he has struggled to hold down the No 7 jersey in his international career but on this evidence, England can expect to see plenty more of Reffell in the years to come.
