ROB Baxter admitted Exeter Chiefs are making life too easy for their opponents after seeing his side suffer another frustrating defeat at Sandy Park.

The Chiefs director of rugby was left questioning his side’s decision-making and defensive discipline after Harlequins fought back to claim a 31-28 victory, leaving the Devonians with just one win from their opening five Gallagher Premiership fixtures.

Baxter felt his side had effectively handed Quins a 14-point head start through a catalogue of avoidable errors, before battling their way back into contention only to allow the visitors to snatch victory.

Cadan Murley and Nick David crossed inside the opening exchanges to put Quins firmly in control, but the hosts responded through Harry Wilson before Nika Abuladze’s close-range effort brought them level on the stroke of half-time.

Centre Will Butt then put the Chiefs ahead for the first time after the restart, only for visiting No.8 Lucas Schmid to score twice in quick succession and swing the momentum back towards the visitors.

Late tries from Jack Kenningham and Olly Woodburn set up a grandstand finish, but Quins held on to leave Devon with the spoils.

Baxter said: “You make it hard for yourself when you give up 14 soft points literally at the start of the game.

“I think we’re a decent side, we’re working hard, we’re trying hard and we’re resilient. We’re right in the fight. We managed to get the score back to where it was and pick up two bonus points, which we’ve done a couple of times this season.

“But what we’re not doing is making it difficult enough for teams early in games. We’re making it too easy for them because we’re making too many mistakes. And when we try to deal with things emotionally, that leads to further mistakes.”

The Chiefs boss was particularly frustrated by the manner of the opening two tries, believing his players had abandoned their defensive responsibilities in an attempt to make individual interventions.

“Their first try comes from us losing the ball, which was a bit of a tale of the day. But then we don’t transition into defence properly. We know how to do that,” he said.

“We just jump all over the place and create a break for them. Then, when we defend a set-piece play, we do exactly the same thing again. People are running off at players who haven’t even got the ball, thinking they’re going to make the big tackle or shut something down. All they end up doing is hurting us over and over again.”

Baxter also felt a growing lack of discipline allowed Quins to regain control.

“Initially, our discipline was very good. Although we were making mistakes, we weren’t giving away penalties. Gradually, we became ill-disciplined, and that gave Harlequins momentum,” he added.

“Our challenge is getting our accuracy aligned with our emotional intent. We had that right towards the end of last season, but we haven’t quite got it in place yet.”

Despite the disappointment of another defeat, Baxter warned against allowing frustration to turn into panic, reminding his squad they were not a million miles away from finding the form which took them to last season’s Premiership final.

“We weren’t amazing then, and we’re not awful now. We’re somewhere in between, trying to get our actions and emotional levels right,” he said. “Once we get that right, we can perform at a level where things start going more our way than the opposition’s. That’s the bit we have to find, and I don’t think it’s far away.”