Wallabies lock Dave Dennis to join Exeter

SYDNEY (AP) Australia lock Dave Dennis will take up a three-year contract with English club Exeter Chiefs from the end of the 2016 Super Rugby season.

Dennis, who played 18 tests for Australia, has handed over the captaincy of the New South Wales Waratahs for the coming season to flanker Michael Hooper.

He played 93 matches for the Waratahs and could have finished his career with the Sydney-based team but said, at 30, he wanted to challenge himself in a new environment.

Dennis said ''I'm not getting any younger and, with the transition of Michael into the captaincy, I'm really comfortable with the way I'll be leaving the club at the end of the year.''