The Leicester Tigers flanker, affectionately known as ‘Turnover Tommy’ for his great skills at the breakdown, made his international debut in Pretoria in July 2022 in a 32-29 defeat to the Springboks.
A week later in Bloemfontein he pulled off three turnovers as Wales won for the first time on South African soil against the Boks. That 13-12 triumph would sit very nicely alongside a first Welsh win in Oz against the Wallabies since 1969.
To do that Wales will have to correct the errors of last weekend in Sydney, when they were beaten 25-16 to stretch their losing run to eight games. Reffell knows all about the pain of defeat having started in seven of those eight losses.
“It was a tough Test match in Sydney in which our accuracy and discipline let us down. We want to play games like this to get better and that’s why we are looking forward to this weekend,” said Reffell.
“It will be a different back row with Aaron Wainwright out with an injury. Aaron is going to be a huge loss for us and we need to share the work load he gets through between forwards and backs.
“We need to adapt to try to find a way to break down Australia. They are known for having great poachers and the breakdown was a bit messy last weekend.”
Taine Plumtree has switched from No 6 to No 8 to cover the loss of Wainwright, who was outstanding in his 50th appearance last weekend, with Jim Botham coming off the bench to join Reffell on the flanks.
“There is always a pressure on your shoulders when you are playing for Wales. This is a process we are going through and we just have to learn quickly, stick together and get on with it,” he added.
We are just focussing on ourselves and trying to get the best out of each other. We are pushing each other on and we want to finish the season on a high.”
