DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons conceded Exeter Chiefs had “too much power” for Worcester Warriors in their Gallagher Premiership 28-11 defeat at Sandy Park.

A Jack Yeandle try on the back of a driving maul and two close-range scores from Dave Ewers gave Exeter a 21-3 lead at half-time.

Warriors closed the gap with Chris Pennell notching his second penalty of the afternoon before Ted Hill burrowed over for his third try in two games.

But with Ryan Bower in the sin-bin Chiefs sealed victory when prop Harry Williams touched down near the posts on 73 minutes.

Solomons was pleased with his players’ resilience in the second period but felt the high-flying hosts were too strong up front for Warriors.

“Exeter had too much power for us – and we saw that in the first half,” Solomons said.

“I thought we had a very good opening 20 to 25 minutes.

“We dominated territory and possession, so full marks to Exeter’s defence.

“We couldn’t convert any of that into points and then in the last 15 minutes (of the first half) they got three power tries.

“What I was really positive about was that we were 21-3 down at half-time. We spoke about showing resolve and resilience and I thought we certainly did that.

“If you look at that second half we got a try and a penalty, pulled it back to 21-11.

“But they then had a series of scrums, we eventually lost a man to a card and when we were down they got their fourth try after a pick and go and power play.

“From our perspective there are a lot of positives to be taken out of it.

“But Exeter fully deserved their win, they are a really good side.”

Warriors struggled in the scrum, forcing Solomons to haul props Callum Black and Gareth Milasinovich off at the interval.

But Solomons refused to criticise the duo as replacement front rowers Bower and Simon Kerrod found life just as difficult.

“We are up against a powerful set piece outfit,” Solomons said.

“They were pretty good at scrum-time and we had some difficulties there.

“Our lineout was better than last week. We said scrum and maul were the big things (for Exeter) and that they hold onto the ball so our defence was going to be tested.

“Credit to them because in that first half particularly they were able to generate quick-ball which made it very difficult to defend.”

It was Exeter's fifth win on the bounce to keep them one point behind leaders Saracens but boss Rob Baxter was less than impressed with his side's showing.

"We can either be very picky about what we did (against Warriors) or quite relaxed," Baxter said.

"At the minute my feeling is that we need to be a bit picky about it. I thought that was our sloppiest second half of the season and I said that to the players.

"I didn't talk about the first half as we went through the gears and scored some points.

"But the second half was sloppy and it was a waste of rugby in a lot of ways."