Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency

Whitehead "excited" ahead of new season

Chris Whitehead has said that the players at Exeter Chiefs are ‘genuinely excited’ about the start of the new Aviva Premiership season.

The squad have been working their way through a rigorous training and conditioning campaign during the past few weeks as the start of pre-season matches begin later this month when the Chiefs travel to RaboDirect Pro12 side Scarlets on August 17 (3pm).

It has been a busy summer for the talented hooker, who got married in the off-season, but now he is raring to go as Exeter look to improve on another excellent season where they finished sixth-place, securing a second consecutive Heineken Cup spot.

The Chiefs open the 2013/2014campaign against last year’s beaten Premiership finalists Northampton Saints and Whitehead can’t wait to begin.

“I think the boys are really excited about the new season starting,” he said. “Personally, it was great to go away in the summer and get married, but now it’s time to focus on rugby and do what we do best, which is train and get as fit and strong as possible, ready for another great season in the Premiership.

“As a club it doesn’t get much better than starting at a team like Northampton Saints and they will be eager to kick-off their campaign off really well, as will we.”

Having opened all three of their Premiership seasons with wins on the opening day, the Chiefs will be hoping for a similar outcome at Franklin’s Gardens.

Whitehead added: “We always seem to start seasons well, so the boys are genuinely very excited about going to Franklin’s Gardens and hopefully coming away with a big scalp.”

As well as the league campaign, the Chiefs have two cup competitions to focus on with the LV=Cup and the prestigious Heineken Cup both up for grabs.

In Europe’s top competition, the Chiefs have been matched up with Glasgow Warriors and Cardiff Blues, as well as the reigning champions Toulon who beat French rivals Clermont Auvergne in last year’s final in Dublin.

It is the second year in succession that Rob Baxter’s side have been drawn against the holders after last year’s two meetings against Leinster. However, Whitehead – who is now into his fourth season with the Devon club – believes his side are most dangerous as the underdogs.

He added: “It seems to happen that way with us being drawn against the defending champions in the Heineken Cup, but we do our best in those kinds of environments where we are tested to the absolute maximum.

“That, I suppose, is what young players, and players like myself want to be involved in.”

With the Chiefs welcoming a number of new faces to the club with the likes of Don Armand, Dave Lewis, Tom James, Ceri Sweeney, Greg Bateman and Fetu’u Vainikolo all signing for the club this summer, Whitehead has been impressed by how quickly the players have settled in.

He said: “The players have gelled fantastically well and some great characters have come into the squad. I suppose the best thing you can say about it all is that you probably wouldn’t recognise who the new players were if you visited the ground.

“Rob seems to do it really well every year, bringing guys in who are prepared to work very hard for each other, with the odd big name thrown in there.”

After facing the Scarlets, the Chiefs then have back-to-back home friendlies against Bristol (Aug 24) and Glasgow Warriors (Aug 31). Tickets for those two games are currently available through the official Chiefs website.