Tumut Bulls 50
Griffith Blacks 10
THE Griffith Blacks' woes have continued in Southern Inland rugby with the side crashing to their fourth loss in a row after the under-strength side was put to the sword by Tumut on Saturday.
The 40-point mauling was not helped by the fact Griffith only had a squad of 20 to play its two games for the weekend, but captain-coach Luke McKay said players backing up could only account for a certain amount of their bad play against the runaway Bulls.
"The biggest thing that let us down was our defence, in the last 10 to 15 minutes we started running out of legs, but our defence in general let us down," McKay said.
"We weren't letting them break away close to the ruck, but they were getting that extra metre or two that we weren't giving to other teams earlier in the year.
"I don't think I can blame the backing up too much, Tumut did play really well they came out hard and their forward momenteum around the ruck was really good."
The loss will send alarm bells ringing in the club with the split competition format in Southern Inland meaning the Blacks will only play fellow competition heavyweights, who will be asking questions regarding Griffith's title aspirations after the latest loss.
While there was not much to write home about for Griffith, the form of five-eighth Vaea Mateo continues to shine, with the attacking whiz having one of his best games of the season.
"Vaea had an unreal game -he was probably the best man on the paddock from both teams and his vision was amazing and his kicking game was spot on as well," McKay said.
"Despite the score we were never really shut out of the game, when we had the ball we were still pretty effective in attack."
Griffith's depth will be tested further this week with Andrew Vitucci (shoulder) and Jason Waring-Bryant (cork) coming from the field on Saturday.
But in some good news for the club, returning second-rower Hugh McDonald made a successful return in the unusual position of wing, capping off his return with a try, in what was one of the few bright spots for Griffith.
The Blacks will have to shake off the effects of the loss quickly as they prepare to face Waratahs, who will be out to inflict another large loss like their earlier encounter at Connelly Park.
"Our enthusiasm is going to be a big thing for us this weekend," McKay said.
"If we go into it with the perception that we're not going to have much of a chance because of the way 'Tahs play, despite them being a very strong team, it's not going to do us any favours.
"So we need to go into this game with the idea that we've got nothing to lose, we need to throw everything at them."
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