Gilmore declared last month he had “no doubt” his side would perform better this time around, after a “new start” for the club.

But their performances so far suggest there is plenty of work to do.

He described the debacle against Gloucester as “unacceptable”, but says a bumpy start was always likely.

“We’ve been learning a brand new attack system and we’ve got a brand new line-out system that we’re putting in place that’s going to take four to six weeks just to bed down,” he added.

“We’ve got the international players that have just come back into the building as well that are learning it on the run.

“They’ve done their prep work, but there are two massive pieces of your game that we’re still building and still learning.”

Former Harlequins and England winger Ugo Monye called the abject display against Gloucester “one of the worst performances” he has ever seen.

“They got smashed in the scrum and line-out, their backfield coverage was poor, they got smashed at the gain line,” Monye said on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

“They didn’t score a single point in a league where they’re literally handing out points for free.”