DIRECTOR of rugby Dan Protherough says Bromsgrove need to win the key moments in games after narrowly losing 26-23 at home to Bridgnorth in Midlands Premier last weekend.
Will Trumper raced across the whitewash for the Boars’ first try to narrow the deficit to 15-7 in the first half, while Hugh Lockhart claimed the try that brought the Boars back on level terms, but a last-gasp penalty earned the visitors victory.
Protherough was left deflated after losing the game late on.
“At the time it was gut-wrenching – it’s the hope that kills you,” he said.
“It was tough to take because we played really well. There were some brilliant touchline conversions, and it looked like we’d go and win the game late on.
“But there was a marginal call on a forward pass and the referee gave a penalty two minutes before the end for them to win it.”
Despite the late defeat, the Boars chief believes the game should have been out of reach with the chances that the hosts gave up.
“They could’ve been further ahead at half time and should’ve scored more,” said Protherough.
“Like all these things, you have to put things into perspective, they [Bridgnorth] finished fourth last year and have players who have played over 100 games of Championship rugby, so to finish and be as close as we were is not a bad result.”
“It’s got to be frustrating when out of our five games to start the season, we’ve lost three. Deep down we should have done better in these games.
“We’ve got the tools in our squad to win these games, but you have to always look for a good balance.
“But we’ve been competitive against the top four or five teams that we’ve played and I think we can take a lot of positives from them being competitive contests.”
A visit to Coventry-based club Broadstreet, who sit 11th but go into the weekend on the back of a 124-11 victory over South Leicester, awaits the Boars next.
Protherough admits his side are going into “the unknown” on Saturday (3pm), and said: “We’ve spoken to other teams who have played them and they’ve all had differing opinions about them as a team.
“I think like every game, bar the first one against Peterborough, it’s going to be very close again.
“It’s all down to who wins the ‘moments’. There have been key moments in each game, we’ve lost a lot of those.
“The problem is, things that have gone wrong for us have been different in every game. It’s just about making sure that when we’re in that position, that we minimize the damage when the other team is on top.
“We’ve got to manage periods under pressure better in games, which is something we didn’t have last year.”
“We’re learning as go and we’re not far away. We’ve got to stay confident.”
