Welcome to your new stadium

This is the sight that awaits Exeter Chiefs fans when they arrive at Sandy Park for the first game of the season next Saurday.

Work has been continuing late into the night to ensure the multi-miliion pound improvement works are complete.

The west stand has been extended, the east stand now has terracing and the pitch is a mixture of grass and a state-of-the art synthetic material.

Sandy Park will be one of the best stadiums in the Aviva Premiership thanks to the summer investment.

The Chiefs kick off their Premiership campaign against the Leicester Tigers.

An Exeter Daily journalist was among the first people to be allowed to step on to the new pitch.

He said it was like a carpet and that the stadium now had a very different feel.

Inside, capacity has been increased significantly.

More than 620 people will attend the sell-out first gala dinner event on October 2 in contrast to the previous 400-plus capacity.