Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam said he was frustrated after his side's sloppy performance against London Irish cost them two points.
Places in the top four of the most competitive domestic rugby league in world rugby have been decided by narrower margins in the past and Lam knows it. Just last season Harlequins missed out on a semi-final by points difference after finishing with the same total as Northampton Saints who are the early leaders in 2019/20.
The Bears exchanged the lead with Irish eight times at Ashton Gate on Sunday in the 27-27 draw, but in the end a Stephen Myler penalty for the visitors in the 78th minute meant the contest ended level.
Speaking after the game, Lam said: "It was frustrating. It was a great opportunity for us. That is two points blown. It should have been five.
“We wanted to go and try and get the win and take the five points, and for a minute and half we had the five, but unfortunately all the points we left out there brought it right down to the situation where we ended up with a draw.
“It was just sloppy.
“We gave an intercept try, we had numerous line breaks we couldn’t finish off and in relation to the high kicking standards we have had that’s probably one of our lowest ones in terms of goal-kicking."
Fly-half Callum Sheedy missed two penalties and a conversion, although he twice hit the upright to see the ball bounce back. His replacement Ioan Lloyd also put a conversion wide of the sticks.
Lam continued: “All of that sums up to a game that we had an opportunity to kick on and finish it off, and then it was a poor penalty to give away at the end.”
Visitors London Irish played the whole of the second half with 14 men following the sending off of prop Ollie Hoskins for a dangerous clearout at the ruck when he caught Chris Vui's head with his shoulder. Lam believes that despite not wanting to see red cards, the clear rules are good for the game.
“We saw with Sale too, the game’s changed, it’s very clear, we had officials come in before the World Cup, they came in after the World Cup, making it very clear. I think it’s great for our game, that it’s a lot safer,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that you never want to see a red card in the game, but everyone has to make those adjustments, whether it’s tackling or clearing out.”
Lam also said that his side lacked ruthlessness to finish the game off.
“To be ruthless we need to convert more points, in particular when we play a team like London Irish,” Lam said.
“I said to the boys at half-time, if there’s one team who will galvanise themselves from going 14-men down, ut is these guys.
“We kept them in the game by poor kicking and some lose play when really we should have had the opportunity to put them away."
