Walder reflects on 2025/26 pre-season block one
Exeter Chiefs attack coach Dave Walder has been doing his homework and has come into pre-season ahead of 2025/26 determined to hit the ground running with his new squad.
Despite the absence of international players and injured teammates, 40 players walked into the depths of Sandy Park stadium to complete the gruelling team cardiovascular challenge on day one of pre-season.
The commitment shown and energy expended that morning – clips on social media show the heaving lungs and the encouragement to push to the limit – has continued throughout the weeks.
“It’s been good work, tough work from a load point of view,” Walder said. “At the end of last season, before the players went away, Rob [Baxter] 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.”
Key to any professional sports team is their attack. Walder was drafted in at the conclusion of the 2024/25 season to try to reinvigorate the Chiefs. With two games under his belt and the remainder of pre-season ahead of him, he is relishing sinking his teeth into the job.
“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.
“I think, at the end of last season, a line in the sand was drawn and coming in on day one for this season, it was made very clear our objectives in the first four-week block around skill levels.
“It was all laid out to the players what was expected of them as a Chief. Rob gave them a brilliant presentation about what it really means to be a Chief and how to behave.”
That core lesson seems to have been a relatively simple one for a host of new faces. Exeter has recently become home to Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba, Georgian prop Bachuki Tchumbadze, former Gloucester scrum-half Charlie Chapman and a host of others.
“I guess the compliment I could give to the new signings is that you can’t really tell who’s new and who’s not,” Walder continued. “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.”
For Walder, a big key to unlocking Chiefs’ potential is attitude. His highlight from the first block has been the players’ approach to each and every session.
“The work they’ve all put in has been impressive. The effort given in those beach sessions down at Exmouth on a Friday, they’ve been incredibly tough, but the lads have embraced it with a real ‘get on with it’ attitude, which has been great.
“The way they’ve all interacted and have been really gelling has been good to see.”
“Just the way they’re all talking to each other; there’s a positive attitude. 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.”
The hard work is not complete, however. There is a further four-week block to come, crammed full of preparation before Chiefs face Ospreys in Bridgend on Saturday, October 6 to kick-off their pre-season friendlies.
“I can’t wait,” Walder exclaims. “As a coach, you want games to come round, and you want to see how things work.
“At the moment, it’s easy, but there’ll be things we need to tweak and change but you only 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.”
Chiefs' first league clash will be against Northampton Saints at cinch stadium Franklin's Gardens on Sunday, September 28, before rugby returns to Sandy Park in round two against Newcastle Falcons on the first weekend of October. Tickets available here.