Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter is excited about Dallas McLeod’s impeding arrival with the New Zealand back due to move to Sandy Park this week after agreeing a three-year contract.

The once-capped All Black has just finished helping Canterbury win the National Provincial Championship having also helped Crusaders win Super Rugby titles in 2023 and 2025.

While the 27-year-old is not be available for Saturday’s Prem game against Harlequins (15:00 GMT), his versatility means he will help provide cover for Exeter’s injured back three players.

Campbell Ridl is out for most of this season, Paul Brown-Bampoe has yet to play, Tommy Wyatt will be absent until December and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has sustained a hamstring problem

“We’ve definitely signed him as a centre, 12 or 13, so that’s 100% where we’ve signed him,” Baxter told BBC Sport.

“Because he’s played a lot of Super Rugby on the wing and he kind of drops out there for Canterbury, when they have any issues during the game and they’re shuffling their back line.

“It’s ideal that he’s playing a bit of rugby there because you can see where our next situation is going to be with any further injuries in the back three.

“We’ll give him a good time to assess, settle in, slowly get up to speed in training, we’ll get some involvement in the Prem Cup and then we can start to assess where he’ll be coming out of the Prem Cup.”