Malton can't wait to get started

By Mark Stevens

Shaun Malton has admitted he cannot wait to get stuck into pre-season life with new club Exeter Chiefs.

With the Aviva Premiership club set to report back this week ahead of a team building trip to Spain, the 25-year-old has already settled in well to life at Sandy Park having spent the past seven days getting to know some of his new team-mates.

The South African-born hooker has joined a number of Rob Baxter’s squad in getting into the club’s gym early in a bid to get some initial pre-season prep done and dusted.

“I came to the club about a week ago, just to settle in and get everything done early, so when pre-season comes I hear it is quite deadly, with ex-Marines, but if you put the work in you get the results at the end of it, so there are no complaints,” said Malton, who has joined from Green Kine IPA Championship side Nottingham.

“You don’t go to the extent of getting really fit in the off season, because your body needs a rest after playing quite a lot of games last season, but you need to come in ready to do it, so in the first week you don’t get drilled and your body passes out straight away, so you come in semi-fit to get really fit.”

Certainly Malton is well aware of the demands of top flight rugby in England having previously been on the books of London Irish before joining Nottingham in 2012.

However, he says he is looking forward to what lies ahead in the Westcountry, adding: “Exeter are a big club, and it is a privilege to come and play for them, so as soon as I signed for them I was happy, and nothing has changed since then. There are a nice bunch of guys at the club, it is a nice environment, and I have been down to the beach to relax, and it was really good.

“It is similar to being back home in Durban in South Africa for me, which I really miss, and everything around here looks the same, so it feels like home.

“I am just taking things day by day. I will wake up and try my best each day, and then do the same the next day.

“I am looking forward to a step-up (from the Championship), and looking forward to putting my body through a good challenge, and seeing how it goes.”

And Malton said he was attracted to the Chiefs by their style of play. “I told my agent there was only four clubs I wanted to go to, and Exeter was one of them,” he continued.

“It is the way the team play, and everything I asked other people about Exeter, they all said it was amazing, and that you can have a good life at the club.”