DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold conceded Worcester Warriors were “beaten by a better rugby team” after their pulsating 48-32 reverse against high-flying Exeter Chiefs at Sixways.

Warriors led 18-17 at the interval in today’s Aviva Premiership clash.

However, the sin-binning of back row Alafoti Fa’osiliva for a shoulder charge early in the second period proved a turning point.

Chiefs ran in three tries in a clinical 10-minute spell while Fa’osiliva was off the pitch to open up a 36-18 advantage.

Gold was pleased that Warriors refused to buckle and hit back to clinch a bonus point when Jackson Willison touched down for their fourth try in the last minute.

“I was really proud of the guys and the fight they put up,” said Gold.

“We knew how good Exeter were and what a good rugby team they were.

“We knew when you make mistakes Exeter punish you and they did that.

“There are a lot of positives for us to take out of the game.

“We scored four tries which is always good and we have things we need to fix. But we were beaten by a better rugby team.”

Gold hadn't seen the incident which led to Fa’osiliva’s yellow card but believed it was a “reckless” and “silly moment” which contributed to Warriors’ downfall.

“I didn’t see the incident but the other coaches seemed to think that JP Doyle got it right,” said Gold.

“It was just reckless and a silly little moment in the game.

“We were our own worst enemies and created our own downfall.

“When we were clinical and knew what we were doing and executed properly, we got ourselves in good positions in the first half.

“But not being able to exit and then missing touch cost us and then there was the yellow card and it was a domino effect.

“Exeter punished us quickly in those 10 minutes (when Warriors had 14 men) and the game completely got away from us.”

Earlier, tries from full-back Josh Adams and wing Perry Humphreys helped put Warriors 15-7 ahead after just 13 minutes.

But Gold was disappointed Warriors let Chiefs back into the contest.

“We didn’t deal with our re-starts very well and they are technical issues which we can be hard on ourselves about but they are fixable," said Gold.

“When we got it right the previous weekend, Saracens struggled to play against us and when you get it wrong, you concede points."

He added: “You don’t want to celebrate a loss but scoring four tries showed good intent and we know what we need to fix from this match.”