The South African-born Italy U20 No8 tipped by coach to be 'special talent'

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter has tipped 21-year-old No8 Ross Vintcent to be a "special talent" after scoring a hat-trick on Saturday in the Premiership Rugby Cup against London Scottish at Sandy Park.

The South African-born, Italy U20 international went over three times as the Chiefs booked their place in the semi-finals with a 47-10 win, with his first try (the opening try of the match) being particularly noteworthy as he exhibited the pace and the movement of a winger as he beat two defenders on the touchline to run in for the score.

Baxter was full of praise for the Exeter University student after the match, describing his first try as "a little bit scary".

“There are times when it is a little bit scary," Baxter said, as reported by DevonLive. "That try on the wing, you are thinking ‘There is nothing on here, he is a backrow forward,’ and them boom. He has scored a try and he is outpacing backs.

“He is going to be a special talent. The good thing about him is he has got that explosive pace but he also likes to work hard so those are a lot of very good ingredients in there and we have just got to make sure we look after him and keep developing him physically during this period while he is at university and with us; because he is going to be a very good player.”

The Sandy Park faithful have grown accustomed to dynamic No8s in recent years as England and British & Irish Lions loose forward Sam Simmonds ran in tries from all areas of the pitch over the past decade. However, with Simmonds' departure to Montpellier over the summer, someone needs to fill the explosive void at the back of the scrum, and Vintcent showed on Saturday that he could be that player in the future.