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| Birth name | Stuart Hooper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 18 November 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Exeter, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 113 kg (17 st 11 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Ivybridge Community College Queen Elizabeth's Community College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Stuart Hooper (born 18 November 1981) is a former rugby union player and then director of rugby at Bath Rugby. He last played for Bath Rugby in the Aviva Premiership in April 2016. [1]
Born in Exeter, Hooper played basketball at county level until he was 16, before opting for rugby on his move to the specialist sports campus at Ivybridge Community College.
Hooper broke into the Saracens team whilst still a teenager and played alongside Frenchman Abdel Benazzi in the second row.
After making over 30 appearances or so for Saracens he made a surprise move to Leeds Tykes in June 2003. [2] He made his Tykes debut against Bath on 14 September 2003. During his time at Leeds he helped them win the 2004–05 Powergen Cup, where he started in the final. [3]
In June 2005 Hooper was called up for England Saxons against France and was part of their Churchill Cup success in Canada. Hooper captained the 2009 Saxons side in the Churchill Cup. [4]
Hooper was appointed as captain of Leeds Tykes for the 2005–06 Guinness Premiership season, and in doing so became the youngest captain in the league.
In April 2006, Hooper re-signed with Leeds, but left at the end of the 2007–08 season to join Bath. [5] On 5 July 2011 Hooper was named the new Bath club captain for the 2011–12 season.
Hooper retired with immediate effect from all rugby under medical advice on 14 April 2016 as the result of a back injury. [1]
On 30 August 2016 it was announced that Hooper would take on the role of Performance and Player Development Director at Bath. [6] On 7 May 2019 it was announced that Hooper would take on the role of Director of Rugby for Bath at the start of the 2019-20 season, following the departure of former director of rugby Todd Blackadder. [7]
Bath finished 4th in the 2019-20 season, reaching the Premiership playoffs for the first time since 2015. [8] However, the 2021–22 season proved particularly challenging, as Bath finished last in the Premiership table, managing only five wins in 24 games. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, South African coach Johann van Graan signed a long-term contract to join Bath. He was initially set to work under Hooper as Head Coach, replacing Neal Hatley, who transitioned to Forwards Coach, while Hooper retained his position as Director of Rugby. [9] However, after Bath's historic 64-0 loss to rivals Gloucester Rugby near the end of the 2021–22 season, a restructuring of the club's leadership took place. Hooper moved from Director of Rugby to the newly created role of General Manager, with Van Graan becoming Head of Rugby and gaining full control of the first team for the 2022–23 season. [10] Hooper departed this role and left the club after just one season as General Manager. [8]
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