Trailing the defending premiers 17-12 at the break, Gunn chastised his players for their lack of commitment and their mistake rate.

“That’s what was so disappointing, it was the biggest game of the year and if you couldn’t get yourself up for it then there’s something wrong,” Gunn said.

“People said ‘you looked so unorganised’ but I think part of that was we played the way Ag College wanted us to play, their scrambling defence was good and our finishing wasn’t as good as it could have been.

“And our body height in the first half was kind of ordinary, we were having a big look at the back of the ruck.”

After coping the half time serve, Griffith began the second half with much more intensity and with it came a significant territory advantage, however Gunn said that advantage could have led to the home side putting away Ag College much sooner.

The outside backs, when given possession in decent field position, were again potent in the second half, but Griffith’s defensive lineout failed to really threaten the Ag College throw for much of the game.

But despite not sealing the win until late in the game, when Aisea Lomu speared back into the defence line from in close, the Blacks will be happy that they gained maximum points, despite playing well below what they are capable of.

“We grafted out a win, but we obviously didn’t play our best,” Gunn said.

“They’ll (Ag College) think we were lucky to win that game, but in the second half they never really threatened our line except in the last two or three minutes.”

It was in those last few minutes that the big Griffith crowd was on the edge of their seats as penalties given away at crucial times had people putting their heads in their hands.

However, when the final whistle went the Blacks celebrated, not just because it was their biggest win of their year but also because they had been good enough to pick themselves up after a bad start to the game.

The draw in the next two weeks has been kind to Griffith, with games against lesser sides Leeton and Hay, giving the Blacks time to rest some of their stars that are nursing injuries.

Chris Molineaux looks set to miss a couple of weeks after playing with a calf strain and Lomu also looks set to spend some time on the bench, with an ankle complaint keeping the explosive inside centre from playing to his potential against Ag College last weekend.