England bolter labelled ‘incredible talent’ as Exeter Chiefs boss piles on praise after latest try-scoring display
Paul Brown-Bampoe celebrating a try v Bath with an inset of Rob Hunter
New Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Hunter has lauded the growth of winger Paul Brown-Bampoe and feels he could be their go-to man moving forward.
The 22-year-old has hit the ground running in his maiden professional season with the Chiefs, scoring 18 tries in 19 appearances in all competitions, and has quickly seen his name thrown into the mix for an England call-up this summer.
“He’s an incredible talent”
The Durham University graduate has enjoyed a fairly rapid rise into the Exeter squad this season. After featuring in the first six rounds of the season, the winger was sent on loan to National One side Plymouth Albion. However, following injuries to Josh Hodge and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, he was drafted back into the Chiefs’ side to face French juggernauts Bordeaux-Begles – a game in which he scored two tries.
Since then, there’s been no looking back for the powerhouse winger. He has started 11 consecutive games for the Devonians in all competitions and nabbed a whopping 11 tries in that time too, including four against Cornish Pirates and braces against Sale Sharks and Bath.
His form in the back-end of the season has seen him skyrocket into the England conversation ahead of their summer tour to the Americas, and speaking to the media after the 26-24 loss to Bath, he earned high praise from the new boss.
“He is already (a big player for Exeter), he’s attracting a lot of interest as your best players always do,” said Hunter. “He’s an incredible talent, a joy to work with and probably our most improved player, considering I was watching him against Exeter University a year and a half ago.
“It’s exciting every time he touches the ball. I think we need to just get the ball to him, it’s a really important thing for us to have a game plan that brings these guys into it rather than standing on the edge.”
Not the only one
Brown-Bampoe isn’t the only Exeter outside back in good form of late, and despite their league position, still in England contention for the summer tour, with Hodge also earning high plaudits of late too.
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The England A back spent the back-end of last season outside of the Chiefs’ starting XV, with Welsh U20s ace Dan John preferred at full-back, but Hunter feels he has made ‘huge strides’ since returning to the side this season.
“Josh has made some huge strides (this season),” he said. “He’s a skilful attacker, and to be fair to him he’s got a bit stronger and that helps him in contact, but he’s electric with ball-in-hand and he’s one of those players that we’ve just got to get the ball to him in space. He’s such a talent.
“We’ve got some electric attackers (in the outside backs), we’ve got Tommy Wyatt, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Olly Woodburn to come back into it as well. We’ve got some great talent, and we’ve also got an attitude through the middle to get them the ball as well.”
