Exeter’s Tom Hooper: ‘Sometimes you’ve just got to suck up a little bit of pain’

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. “Maybe Exeter and Devon is more like Australia than anywhere else in England. 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. “I was always going to be a meat eater, that’s for sure,” says the 25-year-old, reflecting on his sizeable childhood appetite growing up near Bathurst. “Getting tucked in to the sausage sizzle with my little brother at our local rugby club was always a good way to get our fill.”

Any misplaced worries before he arrived in Exeter a year ago have also long since vanished. “I’ll be honest, when I first came here I thought the international players were going to be wankers. 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. You can deal with it. 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. “My family heritage is actually Cornish. 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. “I go free diving a little bit with a few of the boys.” Where exactly? “I can’t let you know my diving spot, mate. 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? “Nah, I thought that’s where I was going to be but I’m right in the centre of town. I’ve got a landlord – I call him grandad – 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 whole-hearted recruit. Even a fractured shoulder blade against Ireland last July and multiple long-haul flights have failed to dilute his enthusiasm. “Spending a little bit of time in rehab was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a little bit of time off to strengthen the rig and get back into it over here.

“A lot of people allude to how much rugby I play but if I look back to 12-year-old Tommy Hooper running around for Bathurst Bulldogs, he’d be pretty happy playing 30 games [a year] as a professional rugby player. Sometimes you’ve just got to suck up a little bit of pain and push through it.”

Which is the sort of can-do attitude every coach respects. The 125kg (19st 9lb), 6ft 6in tall Hooper has so far won 25 caps for the Wallabies and found it hard when they recently faced New Zealand without him: “It’s strange watching when I’m not injured. We had training at the same time as the game so I was trying not to see the score. Then I walked into Sandy Park, turned right into the brekkie room and the score was on the telly. I think I let out a few profanities. The boys knew I wasn’t happy.”

He remains adamant, nevertheless, that Australia, injuries permitting, can be a threat when they host next year’s Rugby World Cup. “Our squad on paper is looking really strong for that World Cup. Then it’s just about having an individual onus on work rate and doing your job for the team. I think the Wallaby back row, whether that’s the starters or the finishers, are bringing that in spades. And if we can get front foot ball, we’ve got some electric guys out wide. Get everyone on the field and firing and I think we’ll go a long way. It would be great to bring a buzz for the sport back into our nation.”

Much the same, he agrees, could be said about England. He particularly rates Tom Curry – “The work he does off the ball is really underrated” – while his good friend Josh Kemeny at Northampton – “I hear a lot from him about how their team works” – has been educating him about Henry Pollock and others. “I think England are very similar to Australia in terms of the squad depth they possess. When everyone’s fit they can be one of the best teams in the world. So, yeah, it’s an exciting prospect to be facing them first off.”

England, for their part, may yet bump into a second Hooper one day. His 22-year-old younger brother Lachie is highly rated – “He’s an absolute freak, he will be better than me” – and Tom says they both aspire to be positive role models for country boys everywhere. “I loved my time growing up in the country … it teaches you a lot of good values. When I go back to Australia, it’s quite often the country kids who say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. They’re often the ones I give my pair of boots to after the game.”

And every time he lines up to sing Advance Australia Fair, he also feels a swelling sense of gratitude. “Rugby’s just been so intertwined in our life. You know, Mum and Dad met at a rugby field and Dad coached us all the way up through juniors. Then when we moved to Canberra they were on the road to watch us. I even met my partner on a rugby field … she was playing for the Brumbies’ women’s team at the time.

“This sport has given me so much and I really want to give back, whether that’s to my team or future generations of country kids like me. I think I’ve got a duty to do that – and, hopefully, rugby’s got a bit more to give me.”