A disappointing 20 minutes during the first half was enough to see the Griffith Blacks fall to their fifth straight defeat of the SIRU First Grade season.
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The Blacks made a strong start to the clash at Exies Oval against Tumut and looked to have gotten over for the first points of the afternoon, only to have been judged to have been held up.
It became a tough game for many spectators, with coach Mitch White not pleased with his side's performance.
"We started well in the opening five minutes, but we dropped our heads once they got going, and we just couldn't back it up," he said.
"We got our tails between our legs but we didn't recover until we were able to reset at halftime."
Despite the promising start, the momentum flipped from that point as a poor pass allowed the Bulls to score the first try of the afternoon and they ran away with the game from that point.
![Andrew Fauoo attempts to break through the Tumut defence as the Griffith Blacks fell to a fifth straight defeat. Picture by Liam Warren Andrew Fauoo attempts to break through the Tumut defence as the Griffith Blacks fell to a fifth straight defeat. Picture by Liam Warren](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/PXdz7cxaE9wLT2SFtRYFbh/a479c4d5-c9d9-429d-8b10-d8e91c2d34db.JPG/r0_613_6000_4000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Over the course of the next 20 minutes, the Tumut side were able to run in five unanswered tries and the game threatened to get ugly.
The Blacks managed to stop the bleeding for the remainder of the first half to go into the break trailing 29-0.
White had a pretty simple message for his side at halftime.
"I told them to go back to basics and reset," he said.
"Work on our tackles, contest the ruck and control the ball, and we are three-quarters of the way there, and that was what they did.
"They need to back that and not go back to the ordinary football that they sometimes fall back to."
The Bulls were able to extend their lead further with three penalry goals before the Blacks lost Andrew Fauoo to a yellow card.
The home side managed to not concede any points while down a man before Mikaele Gukibau found his way over.
The Bulls found their way over twice in the final five minutes to see them able to secure a 50-7 victory.
After what has been a tough start to the season, White wants his side to find their belief again.
"We are just dropping our heads, and we can't get going," he said.
"I know we have what it takes, and we have the right players to do the job. They just have to believe in themselves and that they can come back from those positions.
"They just need to get that first step in and realise that they can turn it around and probably do it a bit quicker."
It was a nail-biter in the second grade game with tries to Brayden McMaster, Jacob Leungwai and Sonny Tupu seeing the Blacks fall to a 25-23 defeat with the Bulls kicking an extra conversion.
The Blacks will hit the road next weekend to take on Waratahs at Conolly Rugby Park.