Stuart Hooper (born 18 November 1981 in Exeter, England) is a rugby union player for Bath Rugby in the Aviva Premiership.
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 in Devon.
He 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 in June 2003. He made his Tykes debut against Bath Rugby on 14 September 2003.
Phil Davies said at the time of his joining the Tykes: "Stuart Hooper is one of the best young second-rows in the country. He is an England Under-21 international and has a massive future in the game. I've been looking at him for more than a year and I'm chuffed to bits he's agreed to come to the Tykes. Saracens certainly didn't want to let him go but when the time was right we moved in and now he's on his way to Headingley."
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.
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.
On 5 July 2011 Hooper was named the new Bath club captain for the 2011–12 season.
Famous quotes containing the word stuart:
“Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.”
—Donn Pierce, U.S. screenwriter, Frank R. Pierson, and Stuart Rosenberg. Luke Jackson (Paul Newman)