FLY-HALF Alex Davies does not think there will be any added burden on Bath’s shoulders when they travel to Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership Cup on Saturday.

Bath were beaten 27-19 at home by Harlequins in their opening match in the competition last weekend so are already playing catch-up in Pool One.

With the Chiefs and the fourth member of the group, Newcastle Falcons, having played out a draw last weekend, a pointless return from Sandy Park would severely dent Bath’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

However, Davies says the Bath side travelling to Devon will remain focussed on the here and now rather than any qualification permutations.

“I don’t think it puts any more pressure on us. Personally, I don’t take too much notice of factors that are outside of the game,” said Davies, who is in his first season at Bath after joining from Yorkshire Carnegie over the summer.

“We just try to take each game as it comes and win each one. We can’t let outside pressures get to us and we have to just concentrate on ourselves as a team and getting better each week.

“It is not rocket science what Exeter do, but they are very effective at doing it. It can be very hard to stop if you’re not on your mettle.

“It will be a good game at Sandy Park. It is somewhere I always enjoy playing at and we’re looking forward to it.”

Although Bath took the lead against Quins last time out, with Jack Walker scoring an early try, they had to wait until the final 15 minutes to add to that tally as Ross Batty ran in a late brace.

By that time, the visitors had turned a 5-0 deficit into a 21-5 lead and Davies conceded lacked a ruthless edge on the day.

“We are disappointed with the result,” said 32-year-old Davies.

“It was quite a frustrating game and we need to be more clinical when we get into the opposition’s 22 and make sure we come away with points.

“We have been trying to identify the opportunities that we missed and build on the positive stuff.”