Exeter Chiefs have bolstered their front-row options with the signing of Junior World Cup winning prop Alec Hepburn from Australian club Perth Spirit.
The 21-year-old, who has previously enjoyed spells with Wasps and London Welsh, has signed a deal that will keep him at Sandy Park until 2017.
Brought into the Chiefs this week by head coach Rob Baxter, Hepburn was a member of the victorious England U20s side that won the 2013 Junior World Championship in France alongside current Exeter young guns Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joel Conlon, Sam Hill, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell.
Baxter said: “Alec was in a bit of a strange rugby situation. He played in the England Under-20s World Cup-winning side with some of our lads, was involved with Wasps and on loan at London Welsh. He was there with Mitch Lees and part of the squad that went on to win promotion.
“He went to Australia for personal family reasons, but when we knew he was coming back to the UK we had a good look at him in those Championship games and had a chat with our lads who played with him for England Under-20s and it all came back very positively that he’s a young player we feel has got a bright future ahead of him.
“I think you’ve always got to be on the look out for those kind of players as well as the players you look for to add experience and decision making.
“He fits the bracket of being a young, exciting player we feel over the next two, three, four years will come through as potentially a top-flight player.”
The Chiefs have also announced that Props Carl Rimmer and Ben Moon have put pen to paper on new two-year deals while back-row forward Kai Horstmann is extending his Sandy Park stay by another year.
