PETER Short has called on his Exeter Chiefs teammates to improve their problem-solving on the pitch to take their game to a new level.

The Sandy Park outfit beat Wasps 30-16 in the LV= Cup last weekend but were disappointed not to score a fourth try to secure a bonus point.

If they had, Rob Baxter's men would have been level with Northampton going into this weekend's final round of group games.

Instead, a win against Short's former club Bath on Sunday evening may not be enough to see Exeter reach the semi-finals of the Anglo-Welsh competition.

Short said: "We were disappointed we weren't able to get that fourth try and we probably should have stuck to our guns more. We should have recognised the things that worked and kept doing them.

"We are still learning and one of the things we have to be better at is problem-solving on the pitch.

"This season we have gone from taking losing bonus points in the league to winning games, now we have to go from scoring three tries to scoring four by realising what's going right and what's going wrong and problem-solving ourselves."

Short started last weekend's game in the second row – his first game for Exeter since breaking his leg against Wasps in September.

But his return wasn't without incident as he picked up a cut at the top of his nose when he tackled a Wasps player head-on.

As there wasn't a lot the medical staff could do to stem the flow of blood, Short went off a couple of times for treatment before being replaced by Aly Muldowney early in the second half.

But the 32-year-old expects to be fit to face his former side.

Short said: "I got a cut right between my eyes and it was a bit of rustiness on my part. One of their guys came through from a ruck and I didn't quite get my head to the side so I took him head-on.

"I have always cut quite easily and it was just one of those things. Where it was made it difficult to protect it.

"I went off to be tended to a couple of times and by the third time we'd done all we could to try to protect it and the ref wasn't happy.

"It was frustrating and it would be nice to come through a game against Wasps at some point this year!"

Short was one of two players to return from long-term injuries at Wasps as he partnered James Hanks in the engine room.

And he is hoping he can do enough this weekend to force his way into contention for the Premiership game against Leicester next weekend.

"This weekend we have got to forget about the way the competition works and what we may or may not have to do to go through. It's just about winning a game of cup rugby," he said.

"We have to try to get things right in a one-off game and we have to put in a big performance to put ourselves in the frame for the Leicester game.

"Last week there was a bit of rustiness in some of the things we did and some of the combinations didn't work as well as the could but we've had this week to train together again and hopefully we will play better this weekend and put pressure on selection for next week."