Waratahs 72
Griffith Blacks 14
THE same mistakes have come back to haunt the Griffith Blacks after they fell to competition leaders Waratahs by 58 points at Coro Club Oval on Saturday.
Despite a much-improved second-half by the home side, they were still nowhere up to the task, as Waratahs proved they are the team to beat in the Southern Inland Rugby competition.
This is the Blacks' fifth loss in a row with captain-coach Luke McKay saying the once-great side needed to get its confidence back if they were going to be a top-four contender.
"We need to know within ourselves that we are capable of beating the better teams, because we are," he said.
"We knew where they (the Waratahs) were going to be strong and how they were going to play it but we struggled to contain it and they ran away with it in the end."
Facing a side that has been consistent all year, McKay said they knew it would be a tough fight but if the Blacks could shake up their well-drilled game plan then they would have a chance.
"We were defending well and hard at the start, but then we stared to fall off tackles out wide and when you miss those first few they take advantage of it and that's exactly what happened on Saturday," McKay said.
"They scored four 60 or 70 metre tries, once they broke one tackle they would have a lot of blokes around to help out."
With the Waratahs leading by 25 points at half-time, the Blacks knew they had to step up and change their tactics if they were to have a chance at closing the gap.
"They are a very well-drilled side and the only way to beat them is to get in their faces and rattle them. We needed to shut down their time and space," McKay said.
"We were leaving a lot of gaps out wide and the 'Tahs are able to spread it quickly. I told the boys we needed to spread ourselves in defence and get up off the line."
But despite both defence and attack improving "100 per cent" in the second half, the unwavering Waratahs ploughed ahead and put as many points on the board in the second half as they did in the first.
"We fell into the same traps we did last time, letting them have their way and letting them play the game their way and on their terms," McKay said.
"We were being rushed in the tackles and weren't securing the ball and all of a sudden we had scrappy ball and they got us on the back foot and in the last 10 minutes we ran out of legs as well."
With the Blacks facing Ag College next week, McKay said it was the same old problems that needed to be fixed in training if they were going to put forward a serious challenge to the opposition.
"I say it every week, the one-on-one defence has got to improve. We can do all the drills in training we want but it comes down to determination and wanting to stop them."
Despite another disappointing loss, McKay said there were plenty of players that stepped up with Leon Tiere, Ben Groat, Darren Kidd, Veae Mateo and Andrew Higgins stand-out players.
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