WHEN THOMAS AHERN took off on a brilliant run of form at blindside flanker for Munster earlier this season, there was no surprise at Waterpark RFC in his native county of Waterford.
Ahern’s athleticism and skill level helped him to deliver outstanding performances in Munster’s number six shirt when he moved there from the second row, something he had done for the first time when he was with the Waterpark U18s.
It’s well-known by now that Ahern used to play in the backs. Even at 6ft 9ins and close to 120kg, he could probably still do a fine job in the backline.
Ahern was nine when he first played rugby with Youghal RFC just over the Cork border from his hometown of Ardmore. A friend had signed up for a summer camp but had to drop out, so Thomas stepped in and loved it. His parents hail from GAA families in Cork and even though Ahern continued to play hurling and football, rugby gradually took over.
Youghal have also helped to produce the likes of Eddie O’Sullivan, Dave O’Callaghan and John Quill, with Ahern’s rise another point of pride.
The Ardmore man moved clubs to Dungarvan RFC when he went to secondary in the nearby Waterford town and that’s where he first shifted from the backs into the forwards.
“We played him in the centre initially,” says Trevor Doherty, who coached Ahern in Dungarvan’s U16 side.
“He always had good hands from day one, he was a good athlete, he had a bit of aggression about him. We played him at fullback for a while, then we were struggling up front so we put him into the forwards.
“That transformed our pack and we started winning a bit more ball. He wasn’t the most prolific lineout jumper at that stage but he was just a good player.”
Munster supported and encouraged Ahern’s move into the second row. He was already part of the East Munster Cadets team at the age of 15 when he was still playing in the backs but he was tall and the possibility of moving up front was clear.
Indeed, there’s a story in Waterford that Ahern was down at a training session in Mallow and the great Paul O’Connell happened to be there. “Who’s yer man?” asked O’Connell. When he was told Ahern was a fullback from Dungarvan, O’Connell apparently replied, “No, he’s going to be playing in the forwards.’”
It helped that Ahern had a huge growth spurt when he was 15.
“He went away that summer and he came back and I got the shock of my life because he had literally grown four inches,” says Doherty. “It was phenomenal, he just shot up.”
Ahern continued to grow that following season and Doherty says he took to his new position without fuss.
One of the things that stood out back then was how coachable Ahern was. He listened, asked questions, and did what was asked of him.
The same was true when he shifted to Waterpark as he moved into U18s rugby. Dungarvan were struggling for playing numbers and by now, Munster knew they had a big prospect on their hands.
Ahern was already travelling to Waterford city twice a week for training sessions with other talented south-east based players at Waterpark so a move there made sense.
“From day one, he was a professional in every way,” says Cormac Johnson, who coached Ahern in Waterpark.
“He slotted straight in, there was no mentality of being better than anyone. Even before his transfer came through, he was at matches, carrying water bottles, wanted to be part of the team.”
Waterpark already had some excellent second rows, including current Exeter lock Eoin O’Connor and Ireland U18 international Jay Traynor, so Johnson decided that Ahern’s unique skills would be best utilised at blindside flanker.
Ahern played most of that season in the number six shirt, although he won his Ireland U18 and U19 caps as a lock.
“It was his ball handling, his speed, his ability to read the game as a back,” says Johnson of why they played Ahern at number six.
“He was almost wasted in the second row, so even though he played a few games in the second row when we were asked to put him there by Munster, mostly he played in the back row.”
As he started to make an increasing number of the eye-catching contributions that have become his calling cards these days, Ahern’s GAA background was apparent to Johnson.
“He did things which no forward should really have been able to do. He had picked up lots of aerial skills from his time playing hurling. If you watch him, he actually jumps through the ball rather than jumping up and down.
“He is landing beyond where the person challenging him is. He did that for us numerous times off kick-offs. If you’re ever watching him, just imagine him with a hurley in his hands. He has always had those raw ball-playing skills.”
After one season in Waterpark, Ahern moved on to Shannon RFC as he joined Munster’s academy and started college at the University of Limerick.
He shone for Ireland U20s in the second row and that’s where he broke through at senior level with Munster too. But Johnson was always wondering when they would unleash him at blindside flanker.
It was Ahern’s superb try-scoring form in the number six jersey for Munster during the winter – with Peter O’Mahony sidelined due to injury – that convinced Andy Farrell he had to include the Waterford man in his plans around the Six Nations. Ahern was brought to Portugal as a development player for a pre-championship training camp and was called back into the squad ahead of the Wales game, doing the warm-up with Ireland before that clash.
He has yet to get his first Ireland cap but the 24-year-old is on the right track. Back with Munster, his six most recent starts have come in the second row and that’s where he starts today’s Champions Cup showdown with Northampton after RG Snyman’s withdrawal. Ahern will hope to deliver another big showing.
“Tom is developing very well,” says Munster assistant coach Denis Leamy. “He has becoming a student of the game, applying himself really well, and he’s so athletically gifted.
“I work closely with him and I think Tom understands there’s part of the game, you know, the darker parts that he just probably needs to keep growing and developing around his defensive contacts, his breakdown work.
“And then you see the ability everybody speaks about when you put him on the edges, a guy that can move that quickly at that height, his footballing ability.
“So he’s pretty freakish around that sort of stuff and it’s just trying to improve on the little bits of areas where there’s slight weaknesses and I think Tom will be… well, he’s already an amazing player but I think Tom will be potentially a really good player for Ireland, hopefully. That’s the challenge for him.”
There is already serious pride back home at what Ahern is achieving and it will go up another notch if he makes that step to become a senior Ireland international.
The kids in Youghal, Dungarvan, and Waterpark can all see that Ahern is following the footsteps of fellow Waterford man Jack O’Donoghue in blazing a trail.
“For this forgotten pocket of rugby in the south-east, being able to watch guys like that is massive,” says Johnson.
“It puts the clubs on the map and for other kids coming through, it shows that there are players here worth looking at, that you can get people from these clubs if you look far and wide.”
