Joe Hawkins says Exeter Chiefs must quickly regain a fighting mentality in the wake of their second-half collapse against Bath in the Premiership Cup final.
Chiefs, who are second bottom in the Premiership, saw their only chance of silverware this season evaporate at Sandy Park on Sunday when their opponents ran in five unanswered tries after the interval to triumph 48-14.
Exeter return to league action this weekend with a trip to second-placed Bristol Bears and centre Hawkins told BBC Radio Devon: “No excuses, we didn’t really front up in that second half – we didn’t step up and wrestle the game from them.
“We’ve got to take a look at ourselves – that mindset of going out there and putting our bodies on the line for the team. When you’re losing regularly you get stuck in a rut and you need that turning point to come out the other side.
“We’re still really searching for that turning point in the season where we find our form, a bit of momentum we can kick on with.
“The Prem’s coming back now, so we’ve got to get our heads down, work hard, mount some wins, try to climb the table and, little by little, put some building blocks together.”
The Chiefs largely matched Bath during the first half, despite having Stu Townsend’s try chalked off following a video replay – but it was their second disallowed score early in the second period which proved to be more critical.
Wing Josh Hodge’s foot was adjudged to have crossed the touchline during a move that led to Paul Brown-Bampoe going over in the corner and Exeter, who would have narrowed the deficit to a single score if the try had stood, never recovered.
“It’s fine margins but you should never run towards the touchline – the touchline never misses a tackle,” Hodge admitted.
“Bath played in the right areas of the pitch and we couldn’t get a foot in the game. But we can’t dwell on it, we have to focus on the Prem and get some points on the board.”
