Exeter raid West Country rivals to bolster front row stocks

Exeter Chiefs have confirmed that they have signed former Gloucester and England U20s loosehead Archie McArthur, who was released by the Kingsholm outfit when his contract ran out at the end of June.

Reading-born McArthur, 23, joined the Wasps academy after studying at the City of Oxford College and made three first-team appearances before joining the Cherry and Whites four years ago.

In his time at Kingsholm, he played 20 times, including spells in the Champ on dual registrations at Doncaster and Hartpury, as well as a stint with Ampthill during his time with the now-defunct Coventry-based outfit.

McArthur, who played alongside his new Chiefs team-mates Greg Fisilau and Joe Bailey at the World Rugby U20 Championship competition in South Africa three years ago, says that he is impressed by the Chiefs’ ambition.

“Chiefs is a club with a strong culture, an amazing following and a reputation for developing players, which all really appealed to me. From speaking with the coaches and seeing the ambition of the club, it felt like the right place to continue my development and challenge myself at the highest level,” said McArthur.

“I want to contribute as much as I can to the team’s success, keep improving my game and help the club compete for silverware. I’m excited to get started and connect with the lads.

Chiefs’ director of rugby Rob Baxter says that loosehead was a position where they were lacking depth in since Scott Sio departed the club for Cardiff at the end of last season.

“Archie is a young loosehead who we’re pleased to bring to the club. He’s played against us a few times, interestingly, so we watched those games in detail and saw him doing very well,” Baxter said.

“His strengths are his around-the-field movement, his defence and his ability on the ball. He’s got a bit of work to do around set piece, but that’s something we feel we can help him develop.

“With Scotty [Scott Sio] moving on, we needed to make sure we’ve got the correct strength in depth around our front-row department.

“We feel he’ll do a good job for us in the position and that there’s a good amount of development in him as a young player. We see him as a guy with a really promising future.”