Mullingar’s Sean O’Brien signs for Exeter Chiefs

Mullingar man Sean O’Brien is on his way to English Premiership rugby side Exeter Chiefs, with the club announcing his move from Connacht today.

O’Brien (23) – whose brother Conor plies his trade with Leinster – has spent three years with Connacht’s academy, but having not been signed up to a senior deal, the former Ireland U18 and U20 international is Devon-bound.

“It’s a great new challenge for me,” O’Brien said on leaving Connacht this week. “I’ve had a great spell there, but now is the time for me to go and test myself in the Premiership.

“Exeter are a club who have been winning trophies, they play a great brand of rugby and the culture here looks great, who wouldn’t want to join them?”

O’Brien arrived in Exeter earlier this week and is already settling in nicely.

“It’s good to get to know the place, the people, the calls, that way I can hit the ground running in pre-season,” he said.

“Coming over here is obviously going to be a different challenge, the league looks a lot more physical and faster, plus there are more international players playing each week, but I’m looking forward to it.”

The move puts the former Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar student in the same roster as fellow Irishman Ian Whitten. The former Ulster centre moved to Exeter in 2012 and has been at the heart of the side’s recent European Champions Cup and Premiership Rugby successes.

“He’s a legend over in these parts,” he said. “He took a chance coming over here and Exeter took a chance on him, but he’s been part of this side for a long time and won trophies with the club. Hopefully, I can do the same.”

Rob Baxter, Exeter Chiefs’ Director of Rugby, is excited about what O’Brien could bring to the table.

“Obviously, we are always on the look out for talented, young players and recruitment is an ongoing process. Looking at our squad going forward – and the positions where you could potentially need cover – you could see potential around that midfield area for us to get a bit light,” Baxter said.

“That said, I think Sean is one of those players who can push for a place straight away. We’ve seen quite a lot of him when he broke into the Connacht first team and he looks to me – when I code out the games – a player who has a lot of the characteristics that we look for in our players.

“He’s a very good defender, deceptively quick, strong on the ball and when you break his game down, it’s actually very pleasing. He’s also in that right age range, early 20s, so he is one of those recruitment positions that kind of work all ways round for us.

“The last guy we brought from Ireland similarly was Ian Whitten and you look at how good he has been for us, the amount of games he’s played, and what an important figure he has been at the club, so there were a lot of reasons we went for a guy like Sean.

“He ticks a lot of boxes and I’m just really glad we can get him here early, bedded in, and starting that process of becoming an Exeter Chief.”

Exeter are currently second in the Aviva Premiership Rugby table, three points off leaders Bristol Bears as the season approaches its conclusion.