Paul Gustard is hoping for a response from his Harlequins side after unveiling the team that will head to Sandy Park to face Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership Rugby Cup this weekend.

Gustard’s Quins side slipped to an agonisingly narrow defeat at home last time out to Newcastle Falcons in round two of the competition.

That undid much of the hard work done by their victory at the Rec in the opening set of fixtures in this new competition.

And as a result, Gustard has made eight changes this weekend to head the West Country to take on the Chiefs. “Last week against Newcastle was a missed opportunity for the squad having dominated possession and large parts of the game. Our lineout functioned the best it has all season which is testament to the effort Alex Codling gives to the team and the desire and application of the squad to improve,” he said.

“The points we conceded last week were because of our errors including an intercepted try which shows again we are a hard team to break down and this will only improve as we grow together this season.

“Once again we have seen improvement in our attack in training and we look forward to demonstrating this on Saturday.”

Matt Symons, Marcus Smith, Luke Wallace and Ben Tapuai all return to the starting XV this weekend.

Smith forms a youthful half-back pairing with Niall Saunders while Tapuai joins Aaron Morris in the centres.

Charlie Walker, Cadan Murley and Ross Chisholm are the back three while up front Symons comes into the second row alongside Dino Lamb.

Wallace is joined in the back row by Archie White and the in-form Alex Dombrandt who scored another try last weekend in defeat to the Falcons.

The front row is Elia Elia at hooker with Will Collier and Lewis Boyce packing down either side and Gustard is excited at the blend he has found.

“The whole squad have trained with an excellent focus all week for this match and several players who have been rested over the past couple of weeks have been champing at the bit to get back out there which is great to see,” he added.

“Matt Symons has led by example all season and I know he will be part of a pack that will give everything for the Club as ever. It is also very good to have Luke Wallace back in the side after a frustrating time out with injury and his attitude has been exemplary over the past few weeks.