Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter refused to blame a poor performance by referee Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts for his side's 18-16 defeat to in-form Gloucester at Kingsholm on Saturday.
The rookie Premiership official – handling only his eighth match in the top flight – gave a series of baffling penalty decisions that infuriated the Chiefs' boss, and England fly half Freddie Burns helped himself to six penalties to register all of his side's points.
"The game was that tight that it was hard to see some, let's just say, relatively dubious refereeing decisions being handed out," admitted the Exeter leader.
"I thought some of them were penalties to us and they ended up being a penalty and three points to Gloucester, so those are tough ones to take.
"With the game as close as it was, those individual decisions hurt us, but at the end of the day, you don't move forward by sitting here and saying everything was fine with Exeter's performance and if it was a different referee we would've won the game – we don't do that.
"I will be spending more time looking at some of the scrum errors we made, probably some of the tactical errors we made once we forced the try, and we really should have been able to play more pressure rugby than we played.
"We scored the try and then almost let Gloucester play the pressure rugby that brought them back into it, and that is probably the biggest thing we need to address.
"You can't control the weather, you can't control the officials, but you can control some of the things you do, and we'll look to improve those just that little bit going into the Bath game."
Baxter picked out plenty of positives to take from the performance against a Gloucester side who have only lost once at home all season, and moved into fourth place in the Premiership table with the victory.
"I've said to the guys, it was a fantastic physical effort out there from us, yet there were a few things that I know we can do better," explained Baxter.
"We have to be a bit hurt with the end result and make sure we take it into the Bath game.
"There was a lot of good stuff out there and you don't go to Kingsholm, when Gloucester are on form and playing well, and lose by two points and say it's a bad day.
"Nine months ago, we were there celebrating what we thought was a fantastic victory, but the reality was that in the last seconds of the game we scored a try.
"On Saturday, they've kicked the winning penalty in the last five minutes, so that is how close it can be. That's rugby and that's why I'm more than happy to take it on the chin and say on another day things will probably go our way, but I am more disappointed for the players, especially considering the physical effort they put in."
Exeter remain in sixth place – only four points outside the top four, and now face two home games against clubs in and around them in the top half of the table, with the visit of Bath on Saturday followed by a match against Northampton Saints seven days later.
Bath lost 22-0 at home to Saracens on Saturday, while the Saints went down 18-9 to leaders Harlequins at Franklin's Gardens.
"One game never defines a season, and to go away from Gloucester with a losing bonus point is still a very positive result for us," said Baxter.
"Now we've got two home games coming up, and getting points out of those games will probably define how we roll through this next set of matches."
