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Aaron Hinkley says he is relishing the new challenge that awaits next season after he agreed to join the Exeter Chiefs from Gallagher Premiership rivals, Gloucester Rugby.
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The 20-year-old forward will make the switch to Sandy Park this summer, having agreed a two-year deal with the Devon club.
He is Exeter’s third confirmed capture ahead of the 2020/21 season and follows Scottish internationals Jonny Gray and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne in joining Rob Baxter’s squad.
The Hereford-born flanker was a pupil at St Peter’s High School in Gloucester before joining the club’s Academy set-up in 2017. The following year he made his first-team debut as a replacement for Ben Morgan in an Anglo-Welsh Cup fixture against Newcastle Falcons.
Since then, he has combined life with the Cherry & Whites by featuring initially for Cinderford in the National League and then Hartpury College in the RFU Championship.
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To date, he has featured 12 times for Gloucester, scoring tries against Harlequins and London Irish in this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup. However, he sees his future away from Kingsholm and is excited about testing himself in a new environment with the Chiefs.
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“I’m very excited about the move,” said Hinkley, who has been capped at both Under-18s and Under-20s level with England. “I was coming to the end of my contract at Gloucester and when I heard there was some interest from Exeter, I wanted to hear more of what they had to say.
“Speaking with Rob Baxter and Rob Hunter, I liked what they had to say and how they wanted to work with me and develop my game moving forward. Everyone knows that Exeter are one of the best clubs in Europe and that they have created a great environment and a great culture for their players.
.@ExeterChiefs have completed the signing of talented England Under 20 back-rower Aaron Hinkley from Gloucester pic.twitter.com/AB8WCSZYv4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 2, 2020
“Obviously, I’m grateful for the opportunities that Gloucester have given me over the last few years, but I feel the time is right for me to try something different. I know going down to Exeter is going to be a huge challenge, especially when you see the quality of their squad, but I believe they can help take me to another level.”
Baxter himself is delighted to have acquired the services of Hinkley, who was named man of the match when he featured for England Under-20s at Sandy Park last season.
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“Aaron is someone who we have looked at very closely,” said Baxter. “We met him and really liked what he had to say and liked his character. He’s got raw pace and he’s a player that likes to get in and around the ball a lot.
“Those are important features for us because, I know people will look at our pack of forwards and talk about the size of it and that they are big and physical, which they are, but you also need to have elements of pace and you need to build a group of players in your pack that can do something together.
“What you see with Aaron is he’s someone we feel who can drop into our combinations very well and provide some of those key elements. At the same time, he’s also got other attributes that we can only seeing growing with us more and more.
“I can see him being a guy who has good line-speed attributes; will be strong over the ball; and he’s got a pinball way of getting through contact, which I think will be great for us.
“He’s also a young guy who has only just come out of the England Under-20s, so we seem him physically developing for a number of years yet. Those are the kind of qualities that we want to see. We want to see the attributes that will make him part of various combinations we want to put on the field on a regular basis.”
And being English-qualified too, Hinkley ticks a number of other boxes for Baxter in terms of his overall squad.
“We feel like we are going well and that we are a team that have got a lot of things right over the last few years,” added Baxter. “However, the last thing I want us to do is sit on our laurels and expect the players we have got to just keep us progressing. It doesn’t work like that.
“Although we have a good age range to the squad at the minute, you also do have senior players who do move beyond their best years and start to move out of contract, so it’s really important we have plans in place about where we might be in two or three years’ time.
“Where we are really lucky with Aaron is we feel he has lots of qualities that man he can play first team rugby pretty quickly, but I can also see him playing, progressing and improving over a number of years. I think that’s the exciting thing, we feel can bring players in who are pretty much ready to go now, but who you can also see that physical and playing maturity still developing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Super rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
8 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
8 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
14 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
14 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
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