Baxter confirms a trial for Hardwick

FORMER Leicester Tigers back Tom Hardwick is currently on trial a Exeter Chiefs, director of rugby Rob Baxter has confirmed.

Twenty-three-year-old Hardwick’s presence at the Devon club came out last week when the versatile back was added as an additional player for the Heineken Champions Cup, which recommences next week with a doubleheader against Munster in the last 16 knockout round.

Hardwick left the Tigers a little over a year ago with immediate effect in reported acrimonious circumstances.

He later signed for third-tier French side Alibi before that deal officially came to an end earlier this month.

Speaking about the situation with Hardwick, Baxter said: “I’ll be very upfront about it, because these are the same conversations I’ve had with Tom.

“Jack Walsh is leaving next season. He has picked up an improved contract in Wales which will be great for him, so that opened up a slot for us. We’ve been looking at various options there and we’re still looking at a lot of options, we haven’t settled on Tom.

“Tom is just here on a trial basis, but obviously when we brought him here on a trial basis, registrations for the Premiership end pretty soon, so we got him registered with us, in case an opportunity came to play, so he could be registered for us. The European second registration deadline has just come up so we thought we may as well get him registered for Europe. So he is here on trial.”

Baxter added: “It’s an opportunity for him to come and get back on with some training, we can see how he fits in, we can assess where he fits in character-wise. Obviously, I am not going to sit here and go I am not aware there were some issues as he left Leicester, I was no different to anyone seeing the headlines that everyone else would’ve seen. So we want to assess him and see how he goes. That’s what it is, it’s an opportunity for him.”