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http://sportal.com.au/default.aspx/r...lessness-34908
Perth Spirit coach John Mulvihill said his side needs to be more ruthless despite scoring its first away win in the Mazda ARC over the Central Coast Rays on Sunday afternoon.
The Spirit registered a 31-19 win over the Rays at Bluetongue Stadium but with the amount of territory and possession Perth enjoyed, Mulvihill agreed his side should have won by a bigger margin.
"It is always good to get four points when you are on the road," the Perth coach said after the match.
"I think discipline let us down in the first half but we addressed a few areas at half-time and we got the result in the second half."
"I think we put a lot of pressure on the Rays in the first half but that didn't amount to points and that comes down to being inaccurate with the ball at the breakdown."
"So again, it is back to the training field to get that right for next week because guys like (David) Croft are going to be flying in there and where the game is going to be won next weekend."
The Rays rarely got into the Spirit attacking zone but when they did they made the most of it to score three tries to Perth's two, including two gifts.
The first came when lock Chris Thomson sent Sam Norton-Knight away after he snatched the ball from Spirit flanker Richard Brown in the lineout, and the second was when Cameron Shepherd lost the ball behind his line for Brett Sheehan to score.
"Individual errors almost cost us," agreed Mulvihill. "But as a team we need to come together a bit tighter and not let teams back into games – when we have the foot on the throat we need to hold it there."
Shepherd had a solid game at fullback, apart from his dropped ball blemish that led to Sheehan's try. But the talented Test player more than made up for it with an unerring display with the boot to slot seven penalties from as many attempts.
"It was nice to finally hit them," said Shepherd. "I have been having a bit of trouble with my kicking in the last few weeks, so it was nice feeling."
"When we were getting down into their attacking zone something would happen, that breakdown is a major issue now, whether it is a penalty to the attacking side or a penalty to the defensive side for hanging on – we just had to keep taking the points."
"We felt as if we turned the ball over and come away with three rather than come away with nothing."
"We haven't had much success over here so the boys are pretty pumped."
The Spirit's next match is against the Melbourne Rebels in round five of the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship in Perth on Saturday afternoon.
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