Ill-discipline and errors have played a big part in St Pat's disappointing 12-point defeat to Cowra Magpies on Sunday afternoon.
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Cowra raced out to a 16-0 lead within the opening 20 minutes in the round four Peter McDonald Premiership match at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex and while St Pat's found the front in the second half, the Magpies would ultimately run away with a 34-22 win.
St Pat's coach Zac Merritt said his team went into the match flat.
"I thought we had no urgency, really. Credit to Cowra, they turned up and caught us off 30-40 per cent and they got the victory," he said.
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"It was really disappointing, especially coming off the win last week. It's now back to the drawing board for us and we'll build again."
Merritt said there was more to the St Pat's loss than just the slow start, saying penalties and errors cost his team big time.
"I think it was more than just a slow start. Our warm-up was flat and you could see that early on, being 16-0 down. That's unacceptable for a first grade team," he said.
"We just couldn't get into the game. We tried to grind our way back in but the game was that far gone. We were losing too much energy trying to grind our way back in."
Cowra raced out of the blocks early, a 40-20 in the opening four minutes giving the visitors excellent field position, with prop Blake Duncombe making the most of it, scoring three tackles later.
A bursting 50-metre run from Cowra fullback Darcy Howard four minutes later paved the way for Zac Browne to score and not long later the second rower had his second of the match and the Magpies were up 16-0.
St Pat's finally put a dent on the scoreboard when Aaron Mawhinney crashed over in the 18th minute, but an error from the restart gave the ball straight back to Cowra and the visitors made the most of their opportunity when Joshua Weston scored out wide to give Magpies a 20-4 lead.
St Pat's hooker Hayden Bolam would score twice for the hosts before the break, to shave Cowra's lead to 20-14.
Five minutes into the second half St Pat's was given a massive advantage when Cowra hooker Jake Nobes was sin binned for back chat and four minutes later Saints winger Lee McClintock crashed over out wide against his former club.
And St Pat's would hit the front of the 55th minute mark when Matt Ranse scored near the posts following a great break from his teammates. Bolam was unable to convert, however, but St Pat's were leading for the first time 22-20.
It seemed St Pat's were building some good momentum but it evaporated not long later when Weston scored his second try of the match out wide for the Magpies to lead 24-22
The following restart from St Pat's was kicked out on the full and Cowra would score in the following set via Darcy Howard.
Cowra would score again on full-time via Bobby Jeffries.
Merritt is hoping to see some big improvement from his boys in the lead up to a clash with Mudgee Dragons next Sunday.
"We need to improve our effort and understanding of what the game needs in certain periods," he said.
"We keep letting ourselves down with silly penalties and errors in periods where we don't need to. We'll try to improve there and grow into Mudgee back here next week."
COWRA MAGPIES 34 (Joshua Weston 2, Zac Browne 2, Blake Duncombe, Darcy Howard, Bobby Jeffries tries; Thomas Rose 3 conversions) defeated ST PAT'S 22 (Hayden Bolam 2, Aaron Mawhinney, Lee McClintock, Matt Ranse tries; Bolam conversion)
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