Thomas Waldrom (born 28 April 1983 in Lower Hutt) is a New Zealand born rugby Number 8 who represents England.
His nickname is “Thomas the Tank” due to his strength.
Leicester Tigers
On 23 February 2010 English Champions Leicester Tigers announced the signing of Waldrom and that he would join the team at the conclusion of the 2010 Super Rugby season. Waldrom instantly became a firm favourite at Welford Road and has been given the nickname “Thomas the tank engine”, due to his size and rampaging runs to which he has taken to giving an arm gesture as if blowing a train engines horn when scoring a try.
Waldrom, who discovered only during the 2010–11 season that he was eligible for England (see below), was named to the 45-man England training squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The roster will be cut to 30 before the team leaves for the World Cup. Waldrom was cut from the 30-man squad, however an injury to prop Andrew Sheridan meant he was called in as injury replacement during the world cup final pool stages. [3]
Exeter Chiefs
On January 20, 2014 Exeter Chiefs confirmed the signing of Waldrom to a 3 year contract.
Personal Life
The younger brother of former All Black Scott Waldrom, he was overlooked by the All Blacks selectors whilst playing in New Zealand, and after making his move to England, had aspirations of eventually playing for the England national team. Under International Rugby Board (IRB) regulations, he would not be eligible for England until being resident in the country for three years. However, as Waldrom would tell the Leicester Mercury in March 2011,
My agent came round and he brought the pamphlet with the International Rugby Board's rules regarding qualifying after residency. My wife was going through the criteria. She saw the line about being able to qualify immediately if one of your grandparents was born in the respective country. I remembered reading somewhere that my grandmother was English. I rang up my mum in New Zealand, where it was four o'clock in the morning. I apologised for waking her up and asked if nana was born in England. She said yes, and that she also had the birth certificate to prove it.
This development made Waldrom immediately eligible for England selection.