Exeter Women head coach Steve Salvin says his side know where they need to improve after their 47-31 loss at home to Premiership Women’s Rugby champions Gloucester-Hartpury.
The Chiefs conceded five tries as they trailed 31-7 at half-time before rallying after the interval to claim a try-scoring bonus point.
The defeat – a first of the season for Exeter – leaves them third in the table after two matches.
“The big thing for us is we feel like we know why we had the issues in the first half,” Salvin told BBC Radio Devon.
“There are times you’re looking around and you’re going ‘I can’t quite work out why we’ve put ourselves in that position’, but a lot of it was of our own doing.
“At times we just didn’t value the ball sufficiently, and when you cough up the ball as much as we did, a team of that quality has the ability to punish you.
“I thought second half we just had so much more care and value for the ball and when you do that it allows you to build pressure on the opposition.”
Salvin stepped up to become Exeter boss in the summer following Susie Appleby’s departure after the Chiefs missed out on last season’s play-offs.
But he is hopeful his side can close the gap on Gloucester – who beat them in the 2024 semi-finals and 2023 final – as the season continues.
“We probably saw where they are as a team in terms of their growth and evolution and where we are and we’re a little bit behind them,” he said.
“But on the flip side of that we are able to recognise what things look like for us going forward and they are particularly exciting.
“There’s some fix-ups and some things we need to do better, but we have time to work on those things.”
