Tom Hooper to the Chiefs

xeter Chiefs have kicked off their 2025/26 season recruitment on strong footing with the signing of Wallabies back row, Tom Hooper.

Heralded in Australia as an emerging firepower in the Wallabies set up, Hooper has accumulated 10 appearances for his country and 38 for his Super Rugby side, ACT Brumbies.

With a domestic season still to play with ACT Brumbies, the forward is eager to give his all to the competition before putting his best foot forward in the Premiership next season.

“Across my five seasons as a Brumby, the club and Canberra have become my home,” Hooper said. “Unfortunately, with the changing dynamic of rugby, sometimes you must fly the coop. That’s what I’m going to be doing next year.

“I’m going to leave the Brumbies and try my best to become a better player, with a view to coming back to Australia and becoming an older, more experienced player later down the track, whenever that may be.”

The 23-year-old will join the esteemed company of Scott Sio and Tamati Tua in becoming a former Brumby pulling on Exeter Chiefs colours.

The Sydney-born player, who is described by many in the Wallabies set up as fiercely competitive, made his Super Rugby debut in 2021 against the Crusaders having had his opportunity to play at that year’s U20 Junior World Championship curtailed by COVID-19.

Hooper fell under the spotlight of the Australian coaches’ interest in 2022 with some confident and physical performances for an injury-struck Brumbies squad. Disappointingly, he was injured himself in a quarter final appearance but Michael Cheika – a Wallabies Coach at the time – was already intrigued.

By the time Hooper rehabbed his injury, Eddie Jones was the man in charge and ultimately gave the combative forward his test debut in The Rugby Championship in July 2023. Just months later, the youngster was also named in the Wallabies 2023 Rugby World Cup squad.

An exciting prospect still with years of development and experience ahead of him, Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter is excited to have secured the services of the Australian and looks forward to watching him settle into the Chiefs scrum next year.

“We’re delighted to have signed Tom. A young international who is a big, abrasive back-five forward, we see him having the opportunity to play across our back row but cover second row as well.

“He’s got a lot of the attributes that are really important in Premiership rugby – high work-rate along with good physical size and good physical abilities. He’s also an interesting character and someone we’re excited to bring to the club to grow the team we want to put together going forward.

“Alongside our other young back five forwards, such as Dafydd Jenkins, Rusi Tuima, Greg Fisilau and Ethan Roots – the back five has the ability to be a really strong group that can build over a number of years.

“We’d like to see that all develop into becoming what I’d like to see as a dominant back five to the scrum in the coming seasons.”