Dubai Hurricanes captain Dave Knight says there has been a real “buzz” surrounding the club during pre-season and everyone is eagerly awaiting the 2016/17 campaign’s arrival.

Canes will welcome Abu Dhabi Harlequins to The Sevens on September 23 for the West Asia Premiership kick-off and James Ham’s side warmed up for the new season with a 10 tries to three triumph against Al Ain Amblers on Friday night.

After a few lacklustre campaigns, Knight is confident of a much-improved showing thanks to a change of structure both on and off the field at the club this summer.

A link has been forged with their Super Rugby namesake in Wellington, while former England Under-18s and England Universities player Mike Wernham has been named forwards coach. Simon Seward will coach the second team and act as the club’s strength and conditioning coach.

Knight revealed the new additions have already made their mark.

“Pre-season has been going really well,” beamed Knight, who replaced Daniel Perry as skipper over the off-season. “We’ve been drilling in a lot of structure this pre-season both in attack and defense. Numbers have been picking up as more people get back from holidays. Mike Wernham has had an immediate impact on the forwards and the boys are responding well.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks training now to finalise preparations before we kick off against Abu Dhabi. There’s a buzz building again and everyone is looking forward to the season.”