New signing Pat says he cannot wait to get stuck into action with the Exeter Chiefs, after arriving at Sandy Park on Friday.

The 29-year-old scrumhalf has been brought in by Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter on a short-term deal as the Devon club look to fill the void left by Samoan international Junior Poluleuligaga whilst he is away on World Cup duty in New Zealand.

Phibbs, however, arrives with a wealth of experience having represented Super Rugby outfit the Brumbies over 70 times, as well as receiving international honours with Australia's 'A' and Sevens sides.

The Sydney-born back started his career playing junior rugby with Randwick and attended Waverley College in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney where he lined up in the First XV alongside Wallabies Morgan Turinui and Stephen Hoiles. His talents, though, were soon realised and it was not long before the Brumbies came calling.

Working alongside Aussie legend George Gregan, Phibbs made himself a popular figure amongst the Brumbies faithful, making his debut for the club in 2005.

There he stayed until June of this year when he was told by new coach Jake White that his contract was not to be renewed.

His departure from the Canberra-based outfit meant that he has now become a free agent and Baxter has moved swiftly to bring the talented back to the other side of the world for the first time in his career.

It's a move the player himself is clearly relishing, he said: "It has been a bit of a rush these past few weeks because it all sorted of happened at once. I'm here now, though, and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity. I've spoken to Rob and to Ali about it all and I'm just looking forward to getting along with the guys and making the most of it."

Indeed, no sooner had Phibbs touched down in the UK then he was being driven straight to Sandy Park, a facility the Aussie ace was clearly impressed with on first showing.

"Yeah, it was straight into Sandy Park, which is terrific.

"The facilities here are great and very professional. The whole layout of the place and the field, it's marvellous."

Ahead of his move to England, Phibbs also sought out some advice from former Brumbies teammate Peter Kimlin, who himself enjoyed a brief spell with the Chiefs last season before a knee curtailed his stay.

"I spoke to 'Big Red' about the place," explained Phibbs.

"He said he had a wonderful time over here and he fitted in really well. He got to play a bit of footy with the team and it was just unfortunate he had an injury. Speaking to him, though, he didn't have a bad word to say about the place."

And with time of the essence for Phibbs to make an impression, the new number nine could well be thrown straight into competitive action on Monday, when Exeter United play host to Worcester Warriors in a friendly fixture at Sandy Park.

"I'm keen to get started as soon as possible," said Phibbs.

"It's been a long trip, but now I just want to get out onto the field and show some of my skills.  Obviously I have a lot of experience from playing Super Rugby, but I know it will be a different style of game over here. It's going to be a lot more physical, so I will have to adapt my game to suit the way we want to play."