Aviva Premiership: Justin Burnell challenges his London Welsh players to step up their game

London Welsh head coach Justin Burnell has challenged his players to step up to the demands of Aviva Premiership rugby following their 52-0 drubbing by Exeter Chiefs.

The Chiefs ran in seven tries in front of just 2,776 fans at the Kassam Stadium to leave Burnell’s newly-promoted side in no doubt about the scale of the challenge facing them this season.

Burnell declined to make excuses afterwards and insisted it is up to his players to dramatically improve their performance levels if they want to stay in the league.

"The season is 10 months and we know what it's about," Burnell said.

"We could have stayed in the Championship and played in front of 800 people, or we could play in the Premiership and put our hands up.

"It's pretty straight forward - we can go home and hide away, or we puff our chests out and put a smile back on our faces.

"We play Bath next so it doesn't get any easier, but we just have to look forward to that.

"It's 52-0 and we have nothing on the score sheet. Maybe people will look at that and take us for granted, which may not be a bad thing for us."

Nine new signings made their Welsh debuts and they looked every bit a team that had been hastily thrown together but Burnell insisted individual errors were the root of their problems.

"We have to learn from this,” Burnell said. “There were opportunities but we squandered them, spilt the ball and Exeter capitalised on the turnovers.

"When you have possession you have to keep hold of the ball and hopefully come out of the green zone with a point.

"It's not a case of regrouping or those clichés, it's about learning from your mistakes and rectifying them.

"When people are making individual errors that has absolutely nothing to do with the number of signings you've made.

"If you're a professional player, you have to make your tackles, make that final pass and hold on to the ball."

Exeter backs coach Ali Hepher was delighted by the performance of former England number eight Thomas Waldrom who scored two tries after joining from Leicester Tigers during the summer.

"Thomas gave us what we're after - he's a rugby player and he combined well with Dave Ewers in the back row," Hepher said.

"Tom has come in; he's been grounded and has worked hard in pre-season.

"We like rugby players here; we're not just one-directional. We have to consider all options in attack."