EXETER Chiefs face some uncomfortable conversations this week after assistant coach James Wilson admitted his side were “miles away” from the required standards in their PREM Rugby Cup defeat against Bath.

With a trip to Sale Sharks looming on Friday night, Wilson made no attempt to disguise his frustration after the Chiefs were undone by indiscipline, defensive frailties and a catalogue of costly errors.

The Chiefs conceded 16 penalties, struggled to contain Bath’s intensity and never found the rhythm needed to mount a serious challenge in a performance which exposed familiar weaknesses.

“There will be some tough conversations with this group,” said Wilson. “It was a great opportunity for a lot of lads to get game time and show themselves, but they haven't quite done that today.”

The Chiefs assistant coach was particularly critical of his side’s discipline, believing their penalty count played directly into the hands of a Bath side which needed little encouragement.

“It was far too many,” he said. “You can’t give a team, especially one as good as Bath, that many opportunities. They feed off that. They get their way into the game through penalties and then start scoring tries and points.

“It was a tough day, very frustrating. We just couldn't really get into the flow of the game from minute one.

“Credit to Bath, they were good and came out of the blocks flying. We were playing catch-up after that. We gave away too many penalties, struggled at the breakdown and never really got into the game in the way we wanted to.”

Wilson admitted the performance had exposed issues which continue to trouble the Chiefs, with breakdown work and defensive discipline once again proving costly.

“A big focus going into this game was looking after the breakdown, but we were still miles away from where we need to be,” he said. “We also needed to be more disciplined in defence, but we continued to give away penalties.”

Bath wasted little time making their mark in this all-Westcountry encounter, breaking the deadlock inside six minutes when Tom Carr-Smith crossed for a converted try.

The scrum-half was on hand to finish after winger Sam Winters had sliced through the heart of the Exeter midfield.

The visitors continued to call the shots and doubled their advantage through Jack Harrison, who capitalised on more slack defending.

The Chiefs desperately needed a response and finally showed some attacking bite on their first meaningful visit into Bath territory. A succession of penalties allowed them to establish field position before debutant prop Archie McArthur forced his way over from close range. Ben Coen converted.

However, the reprieve was brief as Donoghue kicked a penalty before the Chiefs struck again just before half-time, No.8 Carwyn Tuipulotu powering over to keep the hosts in contention.

Bath restored their advantage shortly after the restart when Donoghue finished a quick attacking move following Arthur Green's break from the base of a scrum, before adding the conversion.

Despite the efforts of centre Zack Wimbush, the Chiefs struggled to turn possession into points and Donoghue extended Bath’s lead with a penalty with 10 minutes remaining.

Former Bath back Sam Harris briefly raised hopes with a late try after good work from Will Haydon-Wood, but Bath had the final say as Max Pearce crossed for a bonus-point try before Donoghue added a last-minute penalty to seal the victory.