No room for complacency - Armand

Don Armand says the combination of new signings and promising youngsters in Exeter Chiefs' ranks means there is no room for complacency in the battle for a starting spot.

The Sandy Park outfit have brought in a number of experienced new faces, including Julian Salvi and Geoff Parling from Leicester plus Italian international Michele Campagnaro.

Zimbabwe-born flanker Armand concedes that this newest influx of players means more work than ever to earn a starting berth.

But he also stated that the quality of some of the emerging youngsters at the club was keeping the senior players on their toes.

"With a lot of the guys, we know what they're capable of already. Someone like Jules (Salvi) has been in the Premiership for years and has been around a bit," said the 26-year-old Armand.

"But it's the youngsters that come up and impress you – those are the ones that you have to keep an eye out for.

"It's always a good thing when you have new guys coming in and pushing you. There's no room for being complacent, so whenever a player comes in it's always good to see if the boys rise to the challenge – or not as the case may be.

"That's exactly what you need. The best type of environment is one which is competitive and with boys fighting for their positions. That's how you improve and that is exactly what is happening – everyone is stepping up to the plate and nobody is standing back."

The forthcoming campaign looks to be an important one for Armand after knee and elbow injuries disrupted much of the 2014/15 season.

A bang to his elbow ruled him out for five games, before a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee saw Armand miss eight of the last nine matches of the season.

No operation was required, but intense physiotherapy and rehabilitation work saw him return for almost all of the final-day thrashing of Sale Sharks.

After a period of rest over the summer, a month-long block of pre-season training has had no adverse effects. Not that Armand is surprised – he believes his knee is now stronger than before the injury.

"I don't have any niggles or anything like that, so that's amazing news really," said the former Stormers forward. "I played 78 minutes of the last game and came through that okay, so that was a pretty good test.

"The knee is completely back to normal. Actually, quite often when you have an injury and you do a lot of rehab, you actually come back a bit stronger and I think that's probably what's happened. It's feeling really good now training in pre-season. The boys have worked really hard and trained well as a group, so it's all going well."