Full steam ahead says Tank

Thomas Waldrom says he and his Exeter Chiefs team-mates won’t allow Saturday’s Aviva Premiership loss at Saracens to define their season.

The Devon club surrendered top spot in the table after being undone 36-18 by the defending champions at Allianz Park.

Mark McCall’s side produced an impressive display - particularly against the elements in the first half - to leapfrog their rivals and assume pole position with just four rounds of the scheduled season remaining.

For the first time sink Bath in December 2014, the Chiefs failed to pick up any reward from their efforts, this despite Waldrom collecting a brace of tries to take his seasonal tally in the Premiership to ten touchdowns.

It was, according to the popular No.8, a blip in Exeter’s overall ambitions and he is already targeting a big response when the Chiefs play host to in-form Worcester Warriors at Sandy Park this Saturday (3pm).

"I think we have done a great job this season so one game will not define our season," said the 32-year-old. "We have to look at the game and find out where we went wrong and rectify those things in the next few weeks.

"It is coming to the business end now. We came to Sarries last year and won and it didn't get us anywhere so it is about us going forward now. You never know, we might meet them down the line later on.

"We have some big games coming up but we need to look at this game as a one-off and move forward. We look forward to the big games and we will take stuff out of this game, but at the same time we won't dwell on it too much."

Although the first half conditions favoured Rob Baxter’s side, the Chiefs failed to capitalise and in turn went in trailing 12-6 at the break after England internationals Alex Goode and Billy Vunipola both crossed for tries.

The Chiefs carried a greater threat after the break, thanks to Waldrom’s brace, but it was no match for the Londoners who wrapped up all five points with further scores from Owen Farrell, Jackson Wray and Chris Wyles.

"We didn't capitalise on the conditions enough but you have to give Saracens credit, they played well, ran hard and put a lot of momentum on us," continued the England international. "They were on form and it was hard. When they had the wind they showed us how to do it.

"It was a bit different to being at Sandy Park with the wind because I thought we knew how to play the wind, but it just wasn't our day."