"I’m still as competitive as ever": Former Premiership winger Tom Collins embraces new challenge at 'ambitious' Oundle
Tom Colllins spent three years with Ealing in the Champ before his move to Oundle
©Rob Brewer
For more than a decade, rugby dictated Tom Collins’ life. Now, he’s learning to fit rugby around it.
The 32-year-old spent 10 years at Northampton Saints before his recent spell with Ealing Trailfinders, but the decision to step away from a full-time environment has brought a very different routine.
Training now takes place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, with work and his construction company filling the rest of the week.
It is an adjustment, but one he has embraced.
"It’s been good,” Collins says. “It’s a tad different to obviously being full-time, trying to balance work with doing gym and training in the evenings.
"It’s been a bit difficult to structure, especially when it’s on your own terms as well. You’re so used to having your days structured out for you!
"But no, it’s been good. I’m enjoying it. There’s a lot of drive around Oundle at the minute about where they want to go direction-wise, and it’s an exciting time."
The move has also brought him closer to home. Having previously continued to commute from Northampton during his time at Ealing, Collins says the travelling had become increasingly challenging, with him spending four to five hours a day in the car.
This was a factor behind his decision to join Oundle, but it was not the only one.
"I’m 32 now, and rugby is a very short-lived career," he says.
"I’ve had a great career. Obviously, I was lucky enough to be at Northampton for 10 to 12 years or so. Bit unfortunate with London Irish going into administration [Collins had agreed to join the club before their demise in 2023], but I obviously went to Ealing and had three great years there.
"For me personally, I’ve always been an advocate for what follows on from rugby. Obviously, I had the construction business [HC Design and Build] alongside, and it (joining Oundle) just felt like the right time because it allows me to grow my business and still play good rugby."
But stepping down and into National League Rugby was never about seeing out his playing career.
The key was finding somewhere that could still satisfy Collins’ competitive edge. After all, the winger scored 50 tries for Northampton, featured in Premiership semi-finals and has lifted the Champ Rugby title with Ealing in two of the past three seasons.
"I wanted to go into something that probably had that drive and level of competitive edge that I needed," Collins explains.
"I didn’t want to step down and go to somewhere where it would just be training on a Tuesday and Thursday. I’m still as competitive as ever, and I felt like I was playing some good rugby.
"This opportunity came up at Oundle, and after talking to Aly [Kachra] (Oundle's Director of Rugby) and some of the crew there, I was really interested in where the club are wanting to go."
In their first season in National Two East last term, Oundle came within 80 minutes of promotion. Back in May, they reached the National One Accession Final before narrowly losing 19-15 to Birmingham Moseley.
But their summer recruitment suggests they have no intention of resting on their laurels.
Collins is among a string of eye-catching additions to a squad that finished second in National Two East, with the likes of Oli Morris (ex-Saracens and Coventry), Toby Trinder (ex-Northampton and Coventry) and Ben Brownlie (who won promotion to Champ Rugby with Cambridge in 2022/23) also arriving at Occupation Road.
For Collins, it is a blend of experience and youthful ambition that could make Oundle particularly dangerous this season.
"You’ve got a good mix there of not just experienced lads, but lads who are good people as well, and that is so important," Collins adds.
"Everyone who’s come in are great people. They’re coming in, and they’re wanting to drive stuff. They’re not coming in and just sitting there expecting things to happen. They’re trying to drive and push on. They are also ambitious.
"Then you’ve got people who really want to learn and players who have been at the club since a young age, who bring that culture side and have family connections at the club. It’s a good environment.
"I have seen a lot of social media stuff of people talking about Oundle's signings, but at the end of the day, it has got vision. It is what rugby needs really and yeah, it will be interesting to see where this squad goes.
That ambition is important to Collins because his previous experience at Ealing brought a slightly different challenge.
With a squad built to compete at the top of the Champ, winning became an expectation rather than an aspiration.
But with promotion to the Prem effectively off the table because Ealing’s ground did not meet the RFU’s minimum standards criteria, the progression Collins - and the club - craved was never fully realised despite their recent dominance of the second tier.
"It is very difficult sometimes, especially with that experience, to go, ‘OK, well, if we win the league again, what are the next steps?’ There hasn’t been any progression, if you know what I mean, which is a tricky stance to be in."
With promotion from National Two to National One open to Oundle, there is now somewhere to go.
Collins says the club has a three-to four-year plan, while he also sees an opportunity to pass on his experience to the younger players around him and prepare for life after rugby.
But the rugby itself will present a new challenge to the clinical winger.
Having spent all of his senior career in the Prem and Champ, Collins knows that National Two will demand some adjustment.
The physicality, structure and style of play can be different, and he expects there will be aspects of his game that will need to evolve.
"I actually found stepping down into the Champ quite hard," Collins reveals. "It probably took about six months to get used to that. It’s a completely different way of playing. It’s a lot more structured and a lot more physical.
“Obviously, as a 75kg winger, you can tell that’s not really my game, but you get used to that element!
“It’ll be interesting to see whether National Two suits someone like me who is a bit more jinky, or whether you’ve got to be stronger in the tight areas. It’ll be interesting and exciting to find out as this is all new to me."
Last season, Oundle’s forward pack was among the most ruthless and efficient in the league, but their weapon up front also provided the platform for the likes of winger Rian Hamilton, who was named in the National Two East Team of the Season.
"Ideally, being a winger, I’m hoping we get a bit of ball, but I’m fully expecting to be involved in some mauls and some bits like that as well!" Collins jokes.
The joke may be aimed towards the forwards, but Collins’ assessment of the standard at Oundle is anything but tongue-in-cheek.
He has been impressed by the quality of the players around him during pre-season, particularly given the training time available to the squad.
"You’re only getting an hour and a half on a Tuesday and Thursday evening to properly prepare and get used to things, so you’ve got to hit the ground running and find that cohesiveness,” Collins says, comparing Oundle’s pre-season with those he experienced at Northampton and Ealing.
"The training has that intensity where you go home at like 10 o’clock, and you’re absolutely shattered!
"One thing I am shocked at is just how professional it actually is. It’s semi-pro, but it’s really dictated to us how we want it [training] to be and how we want to play.
"There’s a lot of expectation on the lads to learn their detail, and the coaches deserve credit for how much time they put into things and how they put what they want across to us."
There is also a change at the top for Oundle too, with former Leicester Lions boss Gareth Collins taking over as head coach.
The 42-year-old guided the Lions to National One in 2022-23, and his impact is already being felt, with Collins impressed by the standards being set across the coaching group as Oundle prepare for their season opener against Esher on September 5th.
And after coming close to promotion last season, it sounds like the club - and Tom - have little interest in settling for second best this time around.
"I have heard a lot about National Two and how difficult it is," Collins concludes. "But our goal is obviously to try and do what we couldn’t last year and try and get promoted and go up the leagues."
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