Glen Innes-Guyra were unable to secure three New England Rugby wins in a row after narrowly missing out on one when they played the Barbarians on Saturday.
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The Baa Baas hosted the GhostStags at fortress Alcatraz and held on to clinch a 15-12 win.
Both coaches said the match was a scrappy affair but the Baa Baas managed to make the most of their opponent’s mistakes.
“The old story, the more times it goes through the hands, the more chances you have to drop the ball,” coach Gary Wallace said.
“That's where our mistakes came, just trying to get it through the hands and someone tried to do something fancy and the ball would just get knocked on.”
While they missed out on a few point scoring opportunities, Wallace was pleased his team followed through on the game plan.
“We just tried to make their forwards run as much as possible really,” he said.
“They stuck to the game plan to a tee and the forwards played really well.
“The backs kicked well, kicked to corners and kept the simple stuff going. The real good thing was their communication, that was excellent.”
The Baa Baas haven’t fielded a consistent side over the last two rounds.
“Just getting the combinations week-in, week-out is probably the difficult part with us,” Wallace said.
“We had four or five out that week and six out the previous week so the consistency of working with one team and then trying to get them all together on a Tuesday and Thursday is tricky but I think they're improving.”
The Glen Innes-Guyra side posted two wins on the trot against Armidale Blues and Robb College and were out for their third but some “scrappy” play denied them the victory.
“Baa Baas deserved to win in the end,” coach Whata Rogers said.
“I didn't think it was a very good game from either team.
“There wasn't much momentum built from either team and it was pretty scrappy, a lot of dropped ball.
“We didn't execute properly, I don't think they executed properly, it was quite poor from both teams.”
The team was tipped to be one to watch as the season rolls on with opposition coaches of the belief that with a bit of match fitness, the GhostStags would pose a formidable task.
The match fitness has improved but execution let them down on Saturday.
“They took their chances, we didn't finish off what we were meant to be doing,” Rogers said.
“When there was an opportunity to score or put points on the board, you should take them and we let them slip.
“A couple of things in that game we weren't just getting a flow on.
“We just weren't completing the structured plays like how we should be.”
The competition has passed the midway point of the season and has one more month of regular round matches before semifinals start.
Glen Innes-Guyra take on St Albert’s College this Saturday while the Barbarians have the bye.