Western Morning News (Saturday)
Exeter Chiefs’ new Aussie signing ‘really looking forward to ripping in’
Second row McCauley joins from Australian Super Rugby side Western Force
FORMER Exeter Chiefs tighthead prop Greg Holms has been PR-ing the Premiership club Down Under which helped make new second-row signing Ryan McCauley’s decision to move to the Westcountry club an easy decision.
The imposing 6ft 8in, 18 stone, second-row forward joins the Chiefs from Australian Super Rugby side Western Force on a short-term deal.
Before signing for the club, McCauley revealed he got an inside scoop on Exeter from former Chief Holmes who played for the club between 2016 and 2020.
Twenty-seven-cap Wallabies prop Holmes was a teammate of McCauley at Western Force last season.
McCauley, 24, said: “Greg pointed me in the right direction and told me a fair bit about the place and the club itself.
“He spoke very highly of everything and of his time here.
“When I found out there was a chance of me coming over, I went straight to him and picked his brain. He was excited for me and now I’m here, I can see why he was so positive about the place.”
“I’ve heard lots about the Exeter fans and how passionate they are.
“The stadiums over here are a lot more compact and the fans are right on you, but that’s something I like. Right now, I just want to get up to speed, amongst the boys, and then hopefully get amongst the action.
McCauley arrived in Devon on Thursday following a lengthy flight from Perth and he met his new teammates and director of rugby Rob Baxter.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to ripping in.
“I’ve just watched the boys train and now I’m excited to get amongst it all and get involved with training and then the games.
“It’ll be my first experience of rugby over in these parts, but I’ve watched games of the Chiefs and I know it’s a very good and high standard over here.
“As I said, I’m looking forward to learning from the other tight forwards here because there is a great calibre of players here. Also, I just can’t wait to add to my skill-set around line-out, maul and scrum, especially as it used a lot more over here.”
“The Premiership, I know, is a tough division. The perception of it has perhaps changed a fair bit over the last two or three years back home. It’s a lot more expansive these days and you only had to look at the games towards the end of last season, there were a lot of tight finishes and a lot of points scored.
“You can see it’s a lot more attacking and I can’t wait to be part of it all.”
McCauley played NRC with New South Wales regional side Country Eagles, before he was snapped up by the Waratahs. He would spent four years with them before moving to Western Australia and joining the Force, where he featured 14 times last season.