Joe Hawkins: Exeter Chiefs centre still has Wales World Cup ambitions
- Published
Joe Hawkins was ruled ineligible for Wales after his summer move to Exeter
Centre Joe Hawkins is confident he will play for Wales at a future World Cup after missing this year's event due to his move to Premiership side Exeter.
Hawkins, who has won five caps, was deemed ineligible for his country after moving to Exeter from Ospreys as he had not played for Wales at least 25 times.
The 21-year-old has played 12 times for Exeter since his summer move to Devon.
"Obviously you give a thought to it, a World Cup is a huge achievement for anyone in their career," he said.
"I guess I just thought the five caps I've got, hopefully one day I'll get to represent Wales again.
"But the five caps I've got can never be taken away from me, I've got them forever, and I just thought that coming down here and being in the Premiership was the best opportunity to fully fulfil my potential at this point in my career.
"Times have been quite tough in Wales over the last year, so I put my personal development first, I felt, in coming here, both on and off the field.
"It's my first time living away from home, being fully independent, that's growth as a person as well as a player, so that was a big thought in my decision.
"There'll hopefully be another two or three World Cups while my career's going on, and depending on rules and stuff I've got the potential to maybe play in a couple."
Wales' eligibility criteria also led to the situation whereby Exeter team-mates Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza are eligible to play for the national team as they joined the Chiefs before winning their first caps while Hawkins has to stay at home.
But Hawkins does not appear in any way bitter at the fact that he was left to watch Wales on television at the World Cup while his club colleagues were there in France.
Joe Hawkins won the last of his five Wales caps against Italy in March
"I was enjoying watching the boys, it was nice to see Christ and Daf out there representing the country, so I'm really happy for all the boys and really happy for how well the boys went as well," said Hawkins.
"It was a tough Six Nations, but to come together like they did and put in a decent World Cup campaign was amazing to watch.
"Coming down to Exeter, I was just focusing on my rugby here at the time, getting integrated into the squad, trying to play some good rugby in the pre-season Premiership Rugby Cup block ready to hit the Premiership."
He added: "I'm just enjoying being here with Daf and Christ playing, we're mates and when they go off to Six Nations and World Cups and whatever it's just really good for them."
Confidence from European wins
Hawkins (right) helped Exeter to a memorable Investec Champions Cup victory at Toulon earlier this month
Exeter have had an inconsistent start to the Premiership season but impressed in the Investec Champions Cup over the past two weeks.
A dramatic late win at three-times champions Toulon was backed up by a come-from-behind victory at home to Munster last week, to put Exeter in a strong position to go on and claim a seeded place in the last 16.
The wins have given Hawkins and his young team-mates something to build on as a new-look Exeter side try to return to challenging for Premiership honours.
"As young players it's finding that consistency and that's what we're trying to do," he said.
"We've had a couple of hiccups in the Premiership, but I think that's normal for the transition that we're going through.
"These Champions Cup wins, they don't change our goals or expectations, it probably just gives us a bit of confidence that we know that we can mix it with the best sides and just stay in the fight as well.
"If you look at a lot of our games we've won in the last 20 minutes, so it shows we're fit and it shows that the boys don't ever give up."