BATH’S Matt Garvey says that his side have heeded the lessons from their top-of-the-table defeat at the hands of Northampton Saints last weekend.

The second-placed Rec men were vanquished 21-13 at home as last season’s Aviva Premiership champions moved nine points clear at the top.

Flanker Garvey thinks that regardless of their conquerors’ quality, Bath contributed to their own demise.

But despite a tough trip to Exeter Chiefs next up for Garvey and co on Saturday, the 27-year-old is backing his team to claw themselves back to winning ways at Sandy Park.

“You have to tip your hat to Northampton because they’re a talented side and they were clinical in the way that they capitalised on mistakes,” said Garvey.

“But we’re disappointed with those mistakes. We missed one too many line-outs and when you make one error, all of a sudden it’s two errors and three errors and then you’re underneath your own posts.

“We’ve had to lick our wounds and we’ve prepared properly in training this week. There hasn’t been any panic from us.

“We’ve got another tough game against Exeter – it’s probably one of the toughest places to go in the league.

“There are no easy games in the Premier League and it’s always tough at Exeter with the atmosphere you get there but we’ve got quite a good record there.

“We’re going to concentrate on the fundamentals and make sure we execute properly. We think that we can go there and win.”