The list of Australian rugby players who have found a spiritual home in Exeter is a long and illustrious one. Dean Mumm, Dave Dennis, Nic White, Scott Sio, Greg Holmes, Julian Salvi, Ben White, Mitch Lees, Lachie Turner, Len Ikitau … almost without exception they have pitched up in the south-west of England and relished the experience. As Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, drily observes: “They seem to like the pasties and the cider.” Perhaps the surfing opportunities and the area’s beguiling beaches have also played their part, although Baxter has his own subtly different theory.
There’s plenty of open space and we tend to be a relatively old-school type of club. The Australian guys really seem to like that environment.” None more so, it seems, than Tom Hooper, the club’s current resident Wallaby who is hoping to upset England next week. Hooper hails from cattle farming stock in rural New South Wales and while not a cider drinker – “I love Guinness” – the personable forward is a country boy to the tips of his beaten-up toes.
But they weren’t at all … they were the loveliest, most humble guys. You feel so welcomed in this environment. And the other thing I’ll say is that the British weather’s not that bad.
It’s only one or two months of the year. I’ve only had one winter, though. I’ll see how this one goes.” It emerges, though, that Hooper is not quite as 100% “Strine” as he sounds.
Way, way back before we get sent out on the boats.” He has certainly been enjoying the tors of Dartmoor and the coastal life so far. But there’s plenty of places; the whole coastline is absolutely beautiful.” So presumably he is living in an idyllic thatched cottage in the middle of nowhere? I’ve got a landlord – I call him Granddad – who looks after me.” This most friendly of antipodean giants, however, is very much here for the rugby.
Few top players worldwide have stacked up more games across both hemispheres in the past couple of years and the Chiefs could not wish for a more wholehearted recruit. Even a fractured shoulder blade against Ireland last July and multiple long-haul flights have failed to dilute his enthusiasm. It gave me a little bit of time off to strengthen the rig and get back into it over here.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
