Paul Gustard admits he has entered uncharted territory as a coach but remains confident he can solve Harlequins’ problems after their third defeat in a row against Clermont at the weekend.

Quins went down to a comprehensive 53-21 defeat in France in the Champions Cup on Saturday, as tries from Tom Lawday, Elia Elia and James Lang proved insufficient in halting a resurgent Clermont side.

And it represented Quins’ third defeat in a row in all competitions, losing against Worcester Warriors and Northampton Saints in their previous two Premiership matches.

But Gustard, while acknowledging the difficulties he is facing, believes he has what it takes to turn his side’s current rot around.

“I’ve never been in this situation before as a coach and it is hurting,” he said.

“Either which way we cut it, to concede 50 points isn’t good enough, and I think the boys have been reflecting hard as we’ve now had three defeats in a row.

“They’ve come in different manners – against Northampton we were a bit apathetic, Worcester was nip and tuck all the way and we didn’t manage to grind out the result, and tonight for 30% of the time we were in it, and for the other 70% we were second best.

“It’s frustrating because we came in with the ambition to win and there was an opportunity – we worked hard on our attacking in the week.

“But I will get it right – I’ve got good people round me and good players, and we just have to push this to one side and focus on Bath now.”

Quins have failed to find the fluency they demonstrated so often in the Premiership last term, where they finished fifth in the table and only missed out on a play-off place on points difference.

But four defeats out of five this season in all competitions have derailed their momentum, slumping to tenth position in the Premiership table and failing to get their European campaign off to a positive start.

Gustard, however, has targeted areas for improvement as they head into next weekend’s Champions Cup fixture against Premiership rivals Bath at Twickenham Stoop.

“We have to dust ourselves down and look at the positives and the things we need to work on, and we need to critically reflect as individuals, players and as a coaching staff,” he added.

“We have to assess everything – it’s not just baby out of the bathwater and we need to look at how we can rejuvenate the team.

“We need to look at how we can affect that through selection and how we train, how we look after players, how we recover and the environment we create here.

“We have to make sure we get a good crowd in at the Stoop who can get behind the team, and show them how much we care.”