The Ospreys have confirmed an interest in Jack Walsh, the young Australian sevens player who has been described as having "bags of talent" by one of England’s top coaches.
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter revealed this week that a player he clearly rates is on his way to Wales from the Devon club for next season, with his destination unconfirmed. Now it appears that Swansea could be where he resurfaces after the Ospreys revealed themselves to be among potential suitors.
"He looks like quite a good player," Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said. "He’s certainly an interesting player, for sure.
"Part of our recruitment plan is to get young talent in at the bottom and grow them into long-term Ospreys players who can perform at the highest level. In order to do that you have to find those players often people don’t know about or who are less obvious and not household names yet.
"We want to [develop] those boys, along with all the boys we bring in, into that sort of area of our squad, to give us the best chance of being successful for the long term. So, yeah, if he’s a player of talent, which it looks like he is, we’d obviously be interested. We’re interested."
Booth said he hadn’t signed Walsh yet, though the look on his face as he spoke suggested it wouldn’t be a major shock if such a turn of events came to pass sooner rather than later.
The 22-year-old featured for Australia at U18s level and skippered their age-grade sevens side. He graduated to the Waratahs academy via Manly Marlins but when a Super Rugby contract didn’t materialise Walsh took flight to England, where he has spent time with Exeter.
He has had eight outings for the west of England club to date, including a start in last week’s Premiership Cup victory over Worcester. Now he is set to move on, with Baxter saying: "Jack Walsh is leaving next season. He came over on an opportunity contract from Australia and has done well for us. He has picked up an improved contract in Wales which will be great for him, a huge opportunity for him."
Florida-born Walsh is a playmaker. Exeter thought highly enough of him to play him in the Gallagher Premiership last season. "You watch him and you can see there is something there about him,” Baxter has previously said of him. "There’s a bit of spark, there is something special. He has bags of talent."
The Ospreys have Gareth Anscombe, Josh Thomas and Stephen Myler on their books. At 37, ace marksman and all-round calming influence Myler is still delivering for the Welsh club and he has indicated he would like to continue playing beyond this season, but he is out of contract in the summer. You can read more about his situation here.
Walsh is eligible for America, Australia and is also said to be England-qualified.
