LONG READ Christ Tshiunza: 'I was torn on what to do... leaving Exeter was a very, very hard decision'

A page is about to turn for Christ Tshiunza. After six years in Exeter he will swap life in the south-west with the Chiefs for a move north to Sale Sharks after Saturday’s Prem final.

If it represents a mid-career upheaval for the 24-year-old, everything is relative. He has been through much bigger.

Born in Kinshasa, he arrived in the UK as a seven-year-old after his family fled the brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“It was sold to me as we were going on holiday for a bit. It has been the world’s longest holiday!” he said.

It was not easy for him at first, sharing a mattress on the floor of their one-bedroom flat in Cardiff with two of his four sisters. Unable to speak English, and confused why he was being called Christ rather than ‘Crist’ as he had always heard it back in Africa, he had a challenge integrating into primary school.

“It was tough settling in,” he admitted.

The common language of sport helped as he kicked a ball around with his new friends in the playground. It was always a football though. Rugby? He hadn’t a clue about that. Even when he moved onto Whitchurch School, the alma mater of Sam Warburton, and was introduced to the game it held no appeal. His mum thought it was too dangerous.

However a growth spurt when he was 15 changed everything. Steve Williams, the director of rugby at the school, was struck by his physical potential and urged Tshiunza to give rugby a go. He did. Within five years he had made his Exeter debut and won his first cap for Wales.

“To be fair, you couldn’t write it – everything’s gone so well here,” he said.

“I’m very grateful for the journey my parents went through to get us here. Everything they did for us when we were younger was to make sure we had a good upbringing and good education here.

When my family couldn’t afford school trips, some of the coaches would put their hand in their back pockets just to make sure I could go on some of them.

“I’m extremely grateful as well to all the Welsh people we met. They did a lot for my family when they didn’t have to.

“And the schoolteachers did so much for me too. When my family couldn’t afford school trips, some of the coaches would put their hand in their back pockets just to make sure I could go on some of them.

“I owe a lot to the nation of Wales itself.”

He has never been back to the Congo.

“My sisters go back very often but because rugby is quite a tough job and we only get basically time off when we’re told we’ve got time off I just want to chill out with my time off. If I’m going to go somewhere, I just go somewhere nearby like Spain or Greece,” he said.

“I definitely will go back but only when I’ve got three or four weeks to see the whole family there and get back in touch with my cultural heritage.

“The other thing is they expect us to train in the off-seasons. I don’t imagine there are a lot of high-end facilities in the middle of the Congo.”

While he took delight in the Leopards’ World Cup draw with Portugal, the highlight of his sporting week is yet to come. He cannot wait for kick-off at Allianz Stadium.

“I mean, Prem final – how can you not be excited?” he said.

The Chiefs are on a roll but backing up the heroic semi-final victory over Bath at The Rec will take some doing.

I want to finish the season strong with the boys that I’m not going to see again.

There were many moments to cherish from that game – not least the 43-phase defensive stand that closed out the game – but for the individual spectacular there was nothing to touch Tshiunza’s try – an intoxicating cocktail of pace, athleticism and a right-foot step that belonged to a jinking winger.

It must surely have been picked up on the radar of Wales coach Steve Tandy who has overlooked the back row for his Nations Championship squad.

Tshiunza, who won the last of his 15 caps 18 months ago, would love to be part of a Wales revival but for the moment is pre-occupied with signing off as a champion Chief.

“I want to finish the season strong with the boys that I’m not going to see again. I’ve been at this club for a very long time and I’d like to end this chapter with a trophy,” he said.

“In my head I’m just trying to do the best I can to finish off with that perfect story.”

 

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It is a surprise that Tshiunza is leaving but at the time he made his decision mid-season he felt he had to change the scenery, laid up long term as he was by a broken right foot for the second time in three years.

“It was a very, very hard decision, a multi-faceted one. I was kind of torn on what to do,” said Tshiunza, who will marry his fiancee Liberty next month.

“When you’re injured and you’ve been in the same place for a very long time, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Going back home and playing for a Welsh club was an option but Sale just came across as the best decision.

“This group has done such an amazing thing this season and you want to be a part of the team that does amazing things but on the flip side I’m looking forward to a new challenge up at Sale. They’ve also got a Prem-winning squad up there now.”

You would have got long odds on a Saints-Chiefs final at half time in the opening game of the season with Northampton leading 33-7 but Exeter came back to draw 33-33 at Franklin’s Gardens – a signpost as to what has followed.

“That’s been the story of our season. Fight for every point and see what comes of it at the end. No game is dead,” he said.

Under long-serving director of rugby Rob Baxter, a team which trailed in second bottom last season has been transformed.

“As a playing group we had some honest and tough discussions with ourselves. We said we weren’t going to have a season like last year again.

“But Rob’s done really well to strip everything back this year – it’s made playing very simple because everyone goes into games with a lot of clarity.

“He finds a way of getting your emotional balance right as a player. He doesn’t do a lot of tactics anymore, but in terms of getting that emotional level, Rob gets it really right.

“If you think about it, the team is pretty much the same team as last year, really, plus Hoops (Tom Hooper) and Len (Ikitau) but this year, Rob has really found a way to make us tick.”