The Griffith Blacks showed Temora no mercy on Saturday, the reigning Southern Inland Rugby Union premiers thrashing the struggling Tuskers 65-19.
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The Blacks ran in 11 tries away from home, fullback Ben Kuradugo scoring a hat-trick and winger Vaea Mateo bagging a double in the 46-point hiding.
The Tuskers conceded three five-pointers in the opening 10 minutes and never found a way to rein-in the Blacks’ attack, which was aided by the home side’s ineffective tackling.
The lone highlight for Temora was the scoring of a season-high 19 points, which also saw them become the first team to post more than two tries against the Blacks in a match this year.
It wasn’t a statistic lost on Griffith co-coach Matt Vitucci, who was disappointed his side couldn’t maintain its defensive intensity in the final 15 minutes.
He said the Blacks became too preoccupied with running up a big score and let their discipline slip.
“We got a bit sloppy towards the end and started playing a bit off the cuff. It can get a bit hard when you can rack up points at will,” Vitucci said.
“The last 15 minutes we got a bit carried away and that’s when they scored two or three tries.
“We were giving away easy penalties, easy metres, and our defence wasn’t up to scratch like it has been for the rest of the season.”
But when his side wasn’t trying to play razzle-dazzle rugby, Vitucci said the Blacks looked impressive as they opened up the Tuskers at both ends of the park.
“When we were sticking to our structure and doing our job in defence, we were controlling the game pretty well,” he said.
“We just got a bit too excited in the end and lost our discipline.”
Vitucci knows the Blacks can’t afford to be as loose when they host Wagga Waratahs on Saturday at Coro oval.
The clubs are traditional rivals and last met in the 2014 finals series, the Blacks scoring a narrow 32-27 victory.
“It’s always a pretty heated game against Waratahs,” Vitucci said.
“They’re always a well-drilled side and stick to their structures pretty well.
“We’re going to have to rise up to play them. We’ve got them at home, so hopefully we can get the points.”