Saracens: Ernst Joubert relishing move to Allianz Park

Saracens forward Ernst Joubert expects the side to acclimatise quickly to the artificial surface at Allianz Park.

Sarries will now play all their league matches at the Copthall stadium after leaving Vicarage Road.

He told BBC London: "Watford has been good to us but going into the future, having our own home and building an environment here is very exciting.

"In the beginning it will be a bit strange for us as well but we will pick it up quickly."

Saracens have trained on the artificial turf since the turn of the year but the LV= Cup match against Cardiff has been the only game staged at the ground so far.

The pitch is made up of three separate layers and cost £500,000 to install at the 10,000 capacity venue.

The club have played their home games at Vicarage Road since 1997 but have staged matches at six different venues this season while work was completed at Allianz Park.

Saracens will host their first Premiership game at Allianz Park this weekend, with Exeter the visitors

"We haven't played on it a lot and we are still having to pick up what we have to do with the wind and so on," the 32-year-old number eight added.

"It's like Twickenham in the summer. It's quite a hard surface but it's really fast.

"The ball has got good grip so it should help for entertaining rugby.

"I don't think it's a big difference for people coming here but the bounce of the ball might be a bit different."

Exeter Chiefs are the first Premiership visitors to north London and the South African hopes Sarries can put last weekend's defeat by London Irish behind them.

"We realised if we don't play to our full ability or work hard we become an average side," Joubert said.

"We had to go back to basics and work on things we neglected last week.

"We pride ourselves on having a big squad so we have to step up and deliver."