By Cherry Picker
September 5 2010
After setting a top-four target and watching his squad perform well in pre-season games and training, coach Bryan Redpath has every right to feel let down by his players after their shameful start to the season at newly-promoted Exeter. Losing is never easy to accept - losing badly is impossible.
No wonder Redpath was angry after Exeter stand-off Gareth Steenson kicked his team to a deserved victory.
He had every right to be incandescent after a 22-10 defeat.
He must have found it extremely difficult to control himself and not to say something he might regret as he told the BBC: "That was an unacceptable performance by the players.
"I was hugely disappointed by the mistakes in the core elements of the game that hadn't been there for the previous three weeks and today that came back in abundance.
"Take nothing away from Exeter - very efficient, very simple with what they've done. But we have to be hugely critical of our own performance. Across the board we were very disappointing.
"It's nothing to do with structure, it's nothing to do with how fit we are or how strong we are, it's the core basics of the game. A terrible performance by us, I'm massively disappointed."
He could, of course, have been a lot harsher on his players, who just failed to turn up for what was a vital game against a side determined to start their first season in the top flight with a bang.
Exeter score their only try early as Mark Foster went over, and though James Simpson-Daniel replied, Steenson converted the home try and kicked three penalties for a 16-5 lead.
Replacement Tim Taylor scored a second Glaws try, but Steenson's two further penalties sealed the home win.
Glaws made seven changes, six of them in the second half, but couldn't find the rhythm they needed to put the Chiefs off their stride.
Redpath said before the game that Glaws needed to focus properly on getting their away form right.
They failed, and the result as only the second opening-day defeat for Glaws in ten seasons.
As Redpath says, NOT GOOD ENOUGH.