Sam Leworthy
Second Row
Sam Leworthy
Place of Birth: Barnstaple
Date of Birth: 13/12/2001
Previous Clubs: South Molton
Representative Honours: Exeter Chiefs Academy U15s-U18s
Best rugby memory: Playing for Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership Cup at Sandy Park in front of my family
Sporting hero: Peter Crouch
Day job: Farmer
Sam Leworthy (first published March 2023)
In his regular column meeting the players, Richard Kitzinger meets up with Titans’ big second row, Sam Leworthy.
When I think of how the Titans players look on the field, there are very few who look more focussed and fierce than Sam Leworthy. The contrast with the young man I meet is remarkable. Sure, he’s a giant of a man – he comes from North Devon farming stock – but he’s far friendlier than he looks in the line-out and he has a broad smile from start to finish of our conversation.
Part of the beauty of rugby is that it is a game for all shapes and sizes and it’s usually quite straightforward to pick who plays where. There’s no doubting that Sam is a lock forward; he’s tall, he’s broad, he stoops slightly without thinking about it when he enters a room. But it wasn’t always thus. “I was quite a heavy kid,” he recalls. “My brother and I were quite chubby so mum was quite happy to get us down to South Molton RFC to join the juniors.”
“I must have been about nine years old. I was watching the Six Nations and I said to mum ‘I like the look of that’. She jumped at the chance of her boys losing a bit of weight.”
Young Sam played at South Molton until the age of fifteen by which time he had come onto the radar of the Exeter Chiefs. “I moved into their Academy then and went from Under 15s all the way up to Under 18s and on into their Apprenticeship pathway. And now I’m here,” he says, begging the obvious question of how he made the move from Sandy Park to Veritas Park.
It turns out that the Exeter Chiefs Apprenticeship which links the brightest stars of the Academy with the senior Chiefs squad is based at Exeter College. There he met, of course, Titans’ Forwards Coach Chris Brown. “I wanted to be a carpenter,” says 21 year-old Sam, “But Exeter told me that if I wanted to play rugby I had to go to Exeter College so I went and did Sports Science there instead.”
Unfortunately, Sam’s rugby apprenticeship with Exeter coincided with Covid and in his own words “it didn’t amount to much in the end” but Brown had seen enough to know that this was a young man he could continue to work with. Leworthy had, after all, been involved in the very successful Exeter College team that went to play against the cream of school rugby globally at the Sanix World Youth Rugby Tournament in Japan. “It was the first time I’d been on a plane. It was hectic – a dream come true, a life-changing experience.” Coincidentally, his Exeter College side played against elite South African rugby school Paul Roos Gymnasium from Stellenbosch who featured current Titans centre Jordan Venter in their line-up (“at flanker” Sam points out).
On a personal level, there was great kudos in having been the only non-professional player invited to an England Under 20s camp where he first played alongside his current Titans second row partner, Charlie Rice from Bristol Bears. When it came to selection though it turned out that he was ineligible, being too old for the age group by the small matter of two weeks.
“At the time I was still being asked to train with the first team squad at Exeter but all the other guys in that England squad were already signed with clubs on professional contracts.” The door surely cannot be shut on Sam in terms of a rugby career. He has, for example, played in Chiefs colours in a Premiership Rugby Cup game when he came off the bench in a big victory over Worcester Warriors last season (the same game in which Sam Prior started at number eight for Chiefs).
“It was crazy. I only got a few minutes at the end but to hear my name come through the speakers and to run out in front of a big crowd was really crazy.” Exeter coach Ricky Pellow in his post-match comments made particular mention, saying “Sam’s come through our Academy and made an impact off the bench.”
Opportunities on the whole were limited though. The A League disappeared during the pandemic and chances to make his name in an Exeter shirt were few and far between. At the end of the apprenticeship no offer was made and so he took the decision to move to Taunton Titans. The links between Chiefs and Titans are strong, however, and it’s a fair bet that Leworthy remains on the Premiership side’s radar, especially since they have asked him to train with them every now and then.
This season, his second at Veritas Park, has largely been marred by injury for Sam. He spends most of his time working on the family farm near Barnstaple. “Farming and fencing.” It’s the type of fencing for which there are no Olympic medals. It’s mainly sheep, though his brother has begun rearing bullocks. On the day we meet Sam has been lambing as that season has begun. It’s a small flock but it keeps the Leworthy family busy. It being a family business, mum Jackie, Dad Mike and brother Dave are very good about letting him get away to training and matches. “They’re my biggest fans, helping me out – and they come to all the games.”
The smiling giant softens, “Mum’s had an issue with her eyesight which meant she had to give up her driving licence last year. I’ve had her name tattooed over my heart so she’s always with me.”
Some of that on-pitch determination crosses his face. “I’ve always said that I’d like to challenge myself to play at the highest level I can. We’ll see what happens.”
Richard Kitzinger is writing in our match day programmes as well as on the Taunton RFC website. Richard is a Will Writer and all club members are entitled to a 20% discount on Lasting Powers of Attorney with him. Call him on 07504 991893.
