JUSTIN Burnell says London Welsh’s next four matches are “ginormous”, despite the break from league action.

The Exiles play two European Challenge Cup games, starting with Saturday’s trip to Lyon, and then a brace of LV= Cup fixtures before the Aviva Premiership resumes.

League survival remains the priority and despite Saturday’s 23-3 defeat at the hands of relegation rivals Newcastle leaving Welsh eight points adrift at the foot of the table, Burnell believes those matches can help towards this.

“We are going into a four-week block, which is a crucial time for us to assess where we are at,” he said.

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“But we have also got to be mindful of the players we have got. We have got to look at different combinations.

“We have also got to be able to get people up to a level of freshness for when the league resumes.

“These four weeks are absolutely ginormous for us and rest is a crucial thing.”

The odds of Welsh surviving have lengthened with each heavy defeat, but Burnell stressed the squad remains together and committed.

“The next four weeks is not about flogging them and pointing fingers,” he said.

“It’s about collectiveness and that is what we have talked about.

“We earned the right to play in the league, but we have got to make the most of it and we have got to recharge the batteries.”

Flanker Richard Thorpe is one of several players who can expect a lighter load in the coming weeks.

“You can’t fault the effort we are putting in,” he said.

“The boys really put their bodies on the line and that’s shown by the amount of broken bodies we had after the Newcastle game.”

He added: “There’s no question that we do have the ability, but we haven’t been able to maintain it for the full 80 minutes.”

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