While they didn't come away from Wade Park with the points, there were plenty of positive signs for the Blacks in their return to the field against Waratahs on Saturday.
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It was a tight tussle in the first half, but it was the Waratahs who were able to strike first despite having a man in the sin bin with Harry Morrow able to break through the middle of the Blacks defence and score under the post.
The Waratahs continued to lose players through ill-discipline, but it looked like they would get away with it without damage again, with the Blacks struggling to convert field position into points.
That was until a strong push from a scrum five metres out saw the Waratahs collapse and the referee award a penalty try to the Griffith side.
Heading into halftime, the Blacks looked like they would take the lead into the break; instead, they were reduced to 14-men with Daniel Bozic sin-binned for a high tackle.
It was an unfortunate start to the second half for the home side with an intercept seeing Gerard McTaggart able to run 60m to score just ahead of being tackled by a chasing Jack Glyde.
The Waratahs were able to score a second unanswered when Isimeli Koroi was able to dive over in the corner to give his side a 12-point lead.
The Blacks hopes of a late comeback were dented when Hamish Wrafter was given a yellow card for foul play.
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The home side was able to score a late try, but the final siren would beat them to see the Waratahs escape with a 19-14 victory.
Blacks coach Chris McGregor was proud of his side's performance against what he feels is the benchmark team of the competition.
"I couldn't be happier with how it went," he said.
"That is our first game as a unit, and they have had an actual match, and they have had a couple of first-grade trial games whereas our trials were as a whole group."
McGregor was blown away with the work of his forwards in a difficult contest.
"The effort from my two front-rowers to play 80 minutes of footy is something that doesn't usually happen," he said.
"There is a bit to work on with our structure, but we will be in a good position if we keep going towards it.
"In defence, we were able to bash them off the ball, and every time they had an opportunity, we put them backwards.
"We let ourselves down where there were six or seven times when we only played five or six phases, and we'd drop a ball."
There was only one injury to come out of the game for the Blacks, with Bozic coming off with a suspected broken nose late in the second half.
The Blacks will head to Tumut next weekend.
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