Wales star to join English club as international future thrown into question

The towering forward won the last of his 15 Test caps in November 2024

Wales forward Christ Tshiunza will reportedly join Sale Sharks when his contract with Exeter Chief expires at the end of the season, with the move throwing his international future into question.

The towering forward has been the subject of significant interest from Cardiff Rugby, having been raised in the Welsh capital and gone through the region’s academy system after moving to Wales from the Democratic Republic of Congo as a child. However, after Sale hijacked the move, the English side have now won the race for his signature ahead of next season, according to RugbyPass.

It is unclear what this move will mean for Tshiunza’s Test career but, if he was offered a competitive deal by Cardiff, it could be an issue, with the 24-year-old having won only 15 caps for Wales since making his debut in 2021.

JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more

Under Welsh Rugby Union rules, a player with fewer than 25 caps that receives “a fair and reasonable offer” to play for a side in Wales and moves elsewhere will become ineligible to represent the national side. If the offer made is not deemed “reasonable”, however, it falls to the Rugby Management Board (RMB) and Professional Rugby Board (PRB) to consider the player’s eligibility.

However, the weight and relevance of the 25-cap rule today can be seriously questioned with several loopholes found in recent times, allowing the likes of Jarrod Evans and Rhys Carre to return to the national team despite playing in England.

Tshiunza won the last of his international caps against South Africa during the 2024 autumn internationals and has struggled with a injuries in recent times. He broke his foot while playing for Exeter on the opening weekend on the PREM season, ruling him out of Wales’ autumn campaign, while a further setback earlier this year made him unavailable for the Six Nations.

After nearly six months on the sidelines, he made his return to action off the bench in Exeter’s 66-14 mauling at the hands of Leicester Tigers in Sunday’s PREM Rugby Cup final.

Cardiff are believed to have eyed Tshiunza as a potential replacement for Ulster-bound forward Ben Donnell, but instead he is set to join fellow Wales internationals Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis and WillGriff John at Sale.

It comes after Exeter boss Rob Baxter admitted it would be tough to keep Tshiunza at Sandy Park beyond his deal, which expires at the end of the 2025/26 season.

“The tough one with Christ, really, I don’t mind saying, our EQP numbers are quite tight and making sure that we have that balance in the squad, because for us, it’s very, very important that we keep the funding for the EQP balance,” he explained.

“When you look at the make-up, particularly in our forwards, where our frontline players are, especially when you see guys like Bachuki Tchumbadze coming through, who obviously is non-EQP.

“We’ve signed Nika Abuladze, who is obviously non-EQP, to make our frontline forwards as strong as we have,” Baxter added. “At some stage, EQP becomes quite an important factor for us.

“And obviously, Zambo (Andrea Zambonin) is going well with Daf (Dafydd Jenkins) in the second row. Tom Hooper is going well in the back row. You know, we start to fill up our non-EQP quota pretty quickly.”

Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here for all the breaking news.