Head coach Justin Burnell remains defiant that London Welsh can survive in the Aviva Premiership.

Harlequins inflicted a fifth straight defeat on the Exiles with a 52-0 win at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday, but Burnell is confident that Welsh can still turn things around.

“Of course I believe that,” said Burnell.

“If I didn’t, then we may as well knock the lights off and all go home.

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“It’s tough at the moment and that’s clear for everyone to see, but you’ve just got to keep plugging away and hopefully something will come good.”

Burnell admitted the Exiles were second best at the Stoop against a Harlequins side which ran in seven tries.

“We struggled today across the board. There were no positives in today’s game, just well and truly beaten by a better team,” said Burnell.

The head coach then defended the decision to go for tries rather than points as Welsh turned down several kickable penalties.

“Were we going to win the game by three points? Was it going to come down to three points at the end against a team like that? No, I don’t think so,” he said.

“It could have gone either way. We were confident; if we’d scored the try in the corner it would have been seven points in it.”

Welsh now entertain Newcastle Falcons at the Kassam Stadium next Saturday (2.30pm), but while a crucial game, Burnell insists it won’t decide anything.

“They’re in a similar situation to us, but I don’t think who’s down is going to be decided next week,” he said.

“What we’ve got to make sure is we vastly improve on this weekend’s performance.”

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