Tomas John Reffell (born 27 April 1999) is a Welsh professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. His usual position is flanker. He was a

champion in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. He made his international debut for against South Africa on 2 July 2022.

Career

Reffell began his junior career at his local club

Pencoed RFC Pencoed Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Pencoed. Today, Pencoed RFC plays in the Welsh Rugby Union, Division Two West League and is a feeder club for the Ospreys. The team badge consists of a shield containing the lamb ...

aged 4. He was part of the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

under 16s and joined Leicester aged 15. Reffell captained both Wales U18 and Wales U20. Reffell made his debut for Leicester Tigers on 10 November 2017 in a 33–31 defeat against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

at the Rec in the

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

. In March 2020, Reffell won the

Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Welsh regions. History The Premiership Rugby Cup was ...

Breakthrough Player award for his performances in that year's competition. His form for Leicester in the 2020–21 season lead to speculation that he was in contention to be capped by either or , but he remained uncapped. He was named ''man of the match'' by the

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

following his performance in Tigers' win against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

on 24 September 2021. His form continued into the next season, earning plaudits as he scored twice in the win against Harlequins on 16 October 2022. On 27 November 2022 he was again named player of the match, scoring Leicester's fourth try in the win over

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

. After another spell of good form, in May 2022, Reffell was named in the squad for their summer tour to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. In June, Reffell started the 2022 Premiership Rugby final as Leicester won 15-12 against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

. On 2 July 2022 Reffell made his debut for Wales in their 32–29 defeat to at Loftus Versfeld in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. The following match on 9 July 2022 saw him win the ''man of the match'' award, as Wales beat South Africa 13-12 for their first ever win against South Africa in South Africa. Reffell kept his position into the 2022 Autumn Internationals, starting against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Reffell was injured during the match, and played no further part in Wales's autumn campaign.

International tries

References

External links

*
Leicester Tigers profile

WRU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reffell, Tommy 1999 births Living people Leicester Tigers players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Bridgend Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players 2023 Rugby World Cup players