'It wasn’t nice watching the boys go through that today'

Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore admitted his side’s 38-0 Gallagher Prem defeat at Exeter was a “reality check”.

Quins were brought back down to Earth following last weekend’s win over Saracens as 23 points from Henry Slade inspired the Chiefs to an emphatic win.

The visitors gifted Exeter two tries in the first half with their inability to deal with high ball, while England fly-half Marcus Smith endured an afternoon to forget.

“It was a reality check for us, especially when one compares last week’s impressive effort against Saracens to our performance today,” said Gilmore.

“It wasn’t nice watching the boys go through that today as Exeter won all the collisions and the aerial battle and we had no answers.

“It was definitely a matter of mindset and it’s a challenge for us coaches to address it.

“Marcus was a bit off today and it certainly was the opposite end of the spectrum after his heroics last week, so it wasn’t a good day at the office for us.”

Exeter forwards coach Ross McMillan praised the team’s response to their defeat at Bristol last time out.

Slade showed his England credentials ahead of the autumn internationals by scoring two tries and creating another for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, while Harvey Skinner and Greg Fisilau also touched down.

Slade converted all five tries and kicked a penalty in an impressive individual display.

McMillan said: “I thought we responded pretty well from the frustrations of the defeat last week. We got down to work in training and there was no hiding from last week’s disappointment.

“The guys are now getting the rewards, not essentially every week, for the hard work they are putting. Ethan Roots picked up the man-of-the-match award today as he’s a grafter.

“We knew Quins have a dangerous and multi-layered attack as they showed last week, but we put pressure on them at source and it paid dividends.

“The two Australians, Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper, have come into the squad and have immediately adapted to the environment so we are a band of brothers.

“I thought Olly Woodburn coming back in at short notice and performing so well was a huge plus as he’s been out for so long and he and the medical staff have had to work very hard to get him back on the field.”