JUSTIN Burnell admits London Welsh’s injury problems are increasing, but he refuses to use that as an excuse for their poor form.

Exiles’ head coach revealed centre Tim Molenaar will miss the rest of the season due to the anterior cruciate knee ligament injury he suffered at Sale, and says their absentee count is “ludicrous”.

However, he said Welsh cannot use this to deflect from a sorry start to the season that continued with Friday’s 46-10 defeat to Gloucester.

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“That’s where we are at,” said Burnell.

“I constantly hear of every other team having three or four injuries, but I am not going to play that card. It’s an excuse.

“It would be easy for me to say we have X amount of injuries and feel sorry for us.

“But we are not about that. We have got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down.”

Welsh’s only consolation from the weekend was that Newcastle’s 35-18 defeat at Wasps means the pair remain level on one point at the bottom of the table.

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