Exeter Chiefs are in the latter stages of talks with Wallabies scrum-half Jake Gordon about switching Sydney for the West Country next season.

Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has been thwarted in his attempts to fill the top position on his shopping list for next season’s squad, having reportedly missed out on signing Raffi Quirke from Sale Sharks and Ben White from Toulon, but he looks to be on the verge of landing the 6ft 1in Waratahs captain with aspirations to announce the deal in the next few weeks.

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Gordon, 31, joined the NSW Waratahs in 2017 and has captained the side since 2021. In that time the half-back has earned 103 caps for Waratahs with 102 of them coming in Super Rugby. Gordon made his Test debut against Italy in 2018 and has gone on to earn 29 caps, the last of which came in the recent 2024 Autumn Nations Series.

Gordon is one of four Australians potentially heading to Sandy Park next season with the club having already confirmed the addition of flanker Tom Hooper, a deal for centre Len Ikitau wrapped up but currently unannounced and Waratahs hooker Julian Heaven linked.

Baxter said: “We've got two or three overseas players who we're very close to announcing. I'm really pleased with how things are shaping up. We look like we can be a very, very competitive group when we get everyone on the pitch. I'm really excited about where we look like we're heading.

“At nine people are aware we're looking to add a little bit of experience and quality there as well and so obviously you know Jake Gordon certainly fits that bill. He's a very good player. He's has very much come to prominence in the last three or four years both at his club and internationally.

"He is obviously a very good player but like I said we're looking at, and we've looked at a lot of nines, we've looked at a lot of hookers, we've looked at a lot of centres so as I said we're in the process now.”

Baxter confirmed that earlier in the recruitment process he had also sounded out former Chiefs and Australian international scrum-half Nic White about a return to Devon but both men came to the conclusion the fit wasn't right at this time as Chiefs need someone who can go ‘flat out’ every week whereas 34-year-old White is looking to transition into coaching alongside playing.