HEAD coach Carl Hogg insists there’s no need to “panic” despite Worcester Warriors’ 57-22 Aviva Premiership battering at Exeter Chiefs.

The former Gloucester coach said Warriors were “disappointed” after they were outplayed in all aspects at Sandy Park.

Second-from-bottom Warriors conceded eight tries in a one-sided affair and the contest was settled before the interval as Exeter stormed into a 24-3 lead.

“There’s no panic,” said Hogg. “We have been down to Exeter in the past and had difficult afternoons and that’s no excuse.

“Without doubt, we are disappointed with the way we performed. We know we can perform much better and at much higher levels than we did. But Exeter are a very good side.

“Once they got front foot and momentum, they have ball carriers who can cause damage.

“We are disappointed with ourselves as we weren’t able to control the gainlines.”

Warriors were thumped 50-12 in the away fixture last season and Exeter were again swiftly out of the blocks with the visitors struggling to make one-on-one tackles.

Hogg admitted the result was a “worry” but acknowledged Exeter’s “power” and pace” had been too much for Warriors to cope with.

He said: “Exeter outperformed us, especially in that first half, and we couldn’t control the power and pace they generated.

“We tried to make chop tackles behind gainlines to try to contain their momentum but we weren’t able to.

“With the power they were bringing on to the ball, once you drop off one, the game rolls over the top of you and that is what happened in the first half.

“It is a worry but we came up against an Exeter side who were very much on form. We gave them momentum and that was very difficult to stop.”

Despite the result, Hogg believed the inclusion of academy duo Andrew Kitchener and Jack Singleton, who made their first Premiership starts, had been positive for the club.

“Andrew got his first start at Premiership level and I thought he worked really hard,” said Hogg.

“Ironically, he was one of the guys who put in some shots.

“Jack will be better for the experience but we have to dust ourselves down because we have Wasps at Sixways next Sunday, so we have to get ready to go again.

“The Exeter game wasn’t lost around our young fellas. We have to look across the board to see how we can defend against power and pace.”

Despite being outplayed, Warriors notched tries from Josh Adams, Wynand Olivier and Dewald Potgieter and were chasing a bonus point in the closing minutes.

Hogg said: “We scored three tries and I think we had three or four minutes at the end to try to get a fourth try but it was definitely against the run of play.

“Exeter’s defence was excellent. They had some decent, physical athletes who came off the line hard and made decent collisions and put us under pressure.”