“I thought it was a tradition that was from many moons before his age,” says current Exeter club captain Jack Yeandle, who has done the ‘Jimmy Nine’ many times.
“It’s been going since I was at the club.
“It’s been pushed through by the senior players at the time – we’re in the front row and there’s always a mention of Jimmy Nine and ‘make sure you get Jimmy Nine in’. As soon as you start getting towards the front row you’re making sure you do it.
“I’m making sure everyone does it today,” adds Yeandle ahead of the 2025-26 photo.
“It’s an important thing that’s been going on, and if I ever meet the guy I’ve got to make sure I give him a high four-and-a-half.
“It’s just a bit of fun, a bit of a laugh, and it’s good to see the tradition still going.”
Tucker, now 55, is something of a legend of Cornish rugby.
He played more than 350 games for Launceston over 13 years before an 18-month spell at Exeter that saw him score two tries in 29 games.
He played 50 times for the Cornish county side, helping them reach back-to-back County Championship finals at Twickenham in 1998 and 1999, scoring a try in the latter as the rugby-mad Duchy beat Gloucestershire 25-15 to win a third county title.
“Initially the guys at Exeter didn’t pick up on the fact and I didn’t make a big thing of it because I just was trying to focus on playing a bit of rugby,” Tucker says about his missing digit.
“But as with all rugby teams you have a bit of a social afterward, the odd drinking game happens and one fella who was the MC of the game referred to me as Jimmy Nine, and it seemed to have stuck ever since then.
“I scored a couple of tries at Exeter, on the first one I turned around and a big thing up there then was to acknowledge the try, celebrate the try.
“I turned around to see all my team-mates running up, led by the late Dave Sims, coming up giving us the Jimmy Nine, which was very flattering.
“I’d left and a couple of the old team-mates of mine forwarded a photo back in probably 2006 or 2007 and they continue to do that to this day.
“I’m very flattered by what seems to be a bit of nonsense, but if it serves a purpose I’m chuffed to be part of it.”
