AS much as he tried to put a brave face on it, this hurt, cutting right to the inner core of Rob Baxter.

Almost an hour after watching his side take a second French ‘stuffing’ of the season - the disappointment etched on the face of Exeter’s long-serving Director of Rugby was clear to see.

third Champions Cup defeat of the season, this one a record-breaking 69-17 loss at the hands of Bordeaux-Begles, has left the Chiefs rock bottom of Pool One without a solitary point to their name and a points difference of minus 113.

Ulster, who sit a place above them in the standings and who themselves are also pointless after three games, are next up this Friday in what is nothing more than the proverbial damp squib.

These are certainly tough times for the Devonians, who less than five years ago were not only Kings of England, but also of Kings of Europe.

Sadly, this latest showing underlined the significant drop-off that has occurred in those ensuing years. The result of maintaining that title-winning squad during that Covid-affected season has been felt for some time, resulting in heavy losses on the financial front.

The Chiefs have - and they should be admired for this - addressed that very issue, reducing their pre-tax loss for the last financial year to £419,000 - a reduction of £4.1m from £4.5m the previous year.

A large proportion of that saving has come in slashing their player wage bill, allowing some heavyweight names to depart and a new crop of raw rookies to be put in place to challenge on all fronts.

Baxter has often admitted it’s going to take time for this latest group to fulfil their true potential. However, days like this will only prolong the agony for players and fans’ alike.

The gulf in class between the Chiefs and their visitors from across the English Channel was huge - as no doubt is the sizeable difference in pay structures that currently exist.

But for as much as someone will look at that as the damning statistic, equally Baxter and his team will need to address their own deficiencies. Former defence coach Omar Mounienme may have departed, a potential scapegoat for other below-par performances this season, but 47 missed tackles in this latest outing speaks for itself.

Visitors Bordeaux were as smooth as a fine Cabernet Sauvignon from the banks of the Gironde estuary, but equally they didn’t have to overly exert themselves on their way to scoring 11 tries.

Issues in the set-piece, especially a malfunctioning line-out, merely compounded things for the hosts, who actually broke the game’s deadlock when Paul Brown-Bampoe raced the length of the field to grab one of his two tries.

Winger Ben Hammersley grabbed the other highlight for the Chiefs in an otherwise dismal day at the office.

In reply, the current Top 14 leaders were a slick, effective unit, headed up by Maxine Lucu, who quite rightly picked up the Player of the Match accolade. He grabbed a brace of scores, as did Louis Bielle-Biarrey, but even they were outshone by winger Damian Penaud, who grabbed himself a terrific treble.

Maxime Lamothe, Cyril Cazeaux, Yann Lesgourgues and Mathieu Jalibert completed the rout, ensuring they top the Pool ahead of reigning champions Toulouse, who themselves won against the Sharks in Durban.

Baxter said: “The scoreline has got away from us. It was a bit of a stuffing, wasn’t it?.

“We had loads of guys fighting really hard and trying to have a big effect on the game, but it kind of stopped us doing things as a team.

“No-one likes to have a load of points stuffed up your shirt. That’s the reality, but you have to get on with things, turn up at the next day’s training, suck it up and get on with things.

“I am not sitting here and trying to make light of it. We have got a lot of hard work to do, and we are going to get on with it. This is a collective thing.

“The reality is I’m a professional sports coach and we’ve just been well-beaten in a competition we qualified for. It might not be the competition we need to be in at the stage we are as a team, but we are and we need to do better than that.”

Exeter Chiefs: T Wyatt; B Hammersley (W Rigg 27-40), Z Wimbush (W Rigg 69), T Tua (W Haydon-Wood 56), P Brown-Bampoe; H Slade, S Townsend (T Cairns 56); S Sio (W Goodrick-Clarke 49), Frost (Norey 49), J Iosefa-Scott (J Roots 49); D Jenkins (c), F Molina (C Tshiunza 49); E Roots, J Vermeulen (R Tuima 56), G Fisilau.

Tries: Brown-Bampoe (2), Hammersley; Conversions: Slade (2)

Bordeaux-Begles: R Buros (L Bielle-Biarrey 27); D Penaud, R Moefana, R Janse van Rensburg, P Uberti; M Jalibert, M Lucu (c, Y Lesgourgues 65, 6); U Boniface (J Poirot 48), M Lamothe (R Latterrade 56), C Sadie (T Taufa 56); G Petti (A Ricard 56), C Cazeaux (Sadie 74); L Swinton 7 (B Vergnes 61), T Matiu, Tatafu (M Gazzotti 48).

Tries: Penaud (3), Lucu (2), Bielle-Biarrey (2), Lamothe, Cazeaux, Jalibert, Lesgourgues; Conversions: Jalibert (7)

Red Card: Taufa

Referee: B Whitehouse

Attendance: 10,234