DAVE Walder says he’s counting down the days until Exeter Chiefs charge into the new Prem Rugby season.

The former Newcastle Falcons and Bristol Bears coach arrived late last season, stepping into a side that had endured a bruising campaign, which included them finish ninth in the final league standings.

Now, after a full pre-season and a flurry of marquee signings, the club’s attack coach is ready to help propel the Devonians back into the thick of the title fight.

“I can’t wait,” Walder says with a grin. “As a coach, you want games to come round, you want to see how things work. At the moment, it’s easy, but there will be things we need to tweak and change, but you start to find those areas when you go into live sessions against each other.

“We’ll find where the holes in what we’ve done so far are and we’ll plug those gaps. That will make sure that by the time we hit that first Premiership game, we’re ready to go.”

Few clubs have recruited more boldly over the summer than the Chiefs. World Cup-winning Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba will bring bite to the front row, while Italy’s livewire scrum-half Stephen Varney and towering lock Andrea Zambonin help add a European edge. Throw in Australia’s Tom Hooper — a rugged back-rower with a relentless work rate – and silky centre Len Ikitau, and suddenly Sandy Park is bristling with fresh international firepower.

“I guess the compliment I could give to the new signings [that are here] is that you can’t really tell who’s new and who’s not,” said Walder. “The boys have made them feel welcome – they’ve all slotted in seamlessly.

“It’s likely helped that we’ve brought in new aspects to our game, so everybody is learning from the same page rather than having some guys who are naturally ahead of things.”

As part of the build-up to the new season, the Chiefs - as has been the case for many a year - have utilised not only their surroundings in and around Sandy Park, but also the beach at nearby Exmouth, where every Friday a series of gruelling sessions have taken place.

“The work they’ve all put in has been impressive. The beach sessions have been incredibly tough, but the lads have embraced it. On day one, we spoke about having a positive attitude in the way we talk to each other and our body language, and I think they’ve certainly taken that on board.”

Like the new signings, Walder is himself settling more into his new surroundings, working closely under the stewardship of Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter.

“Working the last couple weeks of the season gave me a chance to meet people and get a flavour for how things are done, but it also gave everybody here a chance to get a sense of how I work,” added Walder.

“At the end of last season a line in the sand was drawn and coming in on day one, it was made very clear our objectives in the first four-week block around skill levels. , Rob stood in front of them and made it clear what the expectations of them coming back were. All of them, bar a couple, hit their targets right from the start, so that’s given us a solid platform to build on.”