Rob Baxter: 'I don't think we are looking at a guy who is on the edge'

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter has revealed that Wallaby star Tom Hooper has vowed to break the club’s Bronco record after arriving back in the country early this morning from international duty.

Baxter said Hooper, a key performer in the Chiefs’ run to the Gallagher PREM final last season, will undergo a screening with the club’s medical staff and is likely to be named as a replacement for the Newcastle Red Bulls’ visit to Sandy Park this weekend.

Hooper returned to the West Country early after being left out of Les Kiss’s squad for the two Bledisloe Cup Tests with New Zealand, a boost for the Chiefs after they lost their opening two PREM games to Gloucester and Bath.

“He’s actually landed this morning. So he’ll have a screen, and I will assess exactly where he is after speaking to the medical team. If he’s got the opportunity to play, he’ll just join in the walkthroughs of stuff this afternoon,” Baxter said.

“He will get up to speed, have a couple of good days, rest and recovery, and he’ll train fully on Friday, which will be our shortest training day, with the team run.

“If we involve him, it’s almost certainly going to be from a bench situation.

Baxter added: “He’s come over ready to go. You know, he’s had time off in Australia. It isn’t like he played against South Africa on Sunday, and he’s just got straight on a plane, and now we’re expecting him to play.

“He’s had 10 days off in Australia since his last game, and he had good rest periods while he was away. I don’t think we’re looking at a guy who’s on the edge. He’s a guy who’s ready to train and play.

“I actually spoke to him just now, and he said he was ready to break the Bronco record at the club! So you can tell the mood he’s in; he’s ready to go.”

Baxter has also revealed that Italian International back row Ross Vintcent is back to full fitness, hooker Max Norey is almost there, along with loosehead Nika Abuladze, while winger Paul Brown-Bampoe and lock Andrea Zambonin are edging closer.

But Olly Woodburn faces a spell out with an ankle injury, and former England A flanker Richard Capstick could miss the rest of the season with a recurrence of a shoulder injury.

On the Capstick setback, Baxter explained: “The last operation failed, which obviously puts him in a difficult scenario because then it’s difficult things you have to work out. Do you have the operation redone? Do you try and see if there’s something else you can do?

“So, he’s kind of in that middle ground around what to have done and how to move forward, how to get things done and rehabbed. They’re long-ish term injuries anyway, and when one fails, it just extends that injury time. He could be back this season, but we’ll have to see,” he added.