THE Hunter Wildfires hopes of a making the Shute Shield play-offs are hanging by a thread.
The Wildfires pushed Randwick to the limit before conceding a late try to go down 42-31 at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday.
If the Wildfires are to make a late surge, coach Scott Coleman said they must improve their discipline.
"We gave away nine penalties for high shots and two dumb ones for offside," Coleman said. "You can't win games with that, especially tight ones."
The legal tackling height has been lowered to below the sternum in the Shute Shield and the referees have not allowed any leeway.
"You are not going to get any rub of the green from the referee if you don't bend to make the tackle," Coleman said. "High tackles have been an issue all year."
The Wildfires scored four tries to earn a bonus point but have slipped to ninth on 33 points.
They are eight points behind Randwick in sixth on 41 points.
They are away to Manly (10th) next Saturday then take on Norths (seventh), West Harbour (11th) and Western Sydney (eighth).
"We are still in the fight," Coleman said. "That was one which got away. We just need to be better."
The Wildfires trailed 5-0 early before winger Frankie Nowell and Phil Talaileva crossed to put the home side in front 14-12 .
It was tied at 17-all at the break.
The second half ebbed and flowed.
Ill-disciplined proved costly for the home side.
Centre Veni Vaha was given a yellow card after attempting an intercept and Talaileva was sent to the bin for a high shot.
Randwick also had a player sent to the bin.
They coped better and jumped to a 36-24 advantage.
Nowell crossed for his second, joining a maul and then peeling off the side and racing 50 metres to cut the gap to 36-31.
However, consecutive scrum penalties to Randwick put the visitors on the front foot and reserve Dec Leaney crashed over to seal the result.
"Lots of little things we said we wanted to do, we didn't do well," Coleman said.
"We wanted to put up contestable kicks rather than run the ball back. We ran it three times and turned the ball over.
"The positives were that we showed effort and bravery again.
"Frankie was good. He brought lots of energy.
"Taufa Kinikini had another strong game. He had to play 80 minutes because Micah got knocked out and got through a heap of work."
In a blow ,US import Erich Storti was carried off with a serious ankle injury.
Meanwhile in Hunter Rugby, super-boot Hare Meihana was the hero again for Maitland.
Meihana landed a late penalty to pip Merewether 29-26 at Marcellin Park.
The former NSW Country rep converted from near the sideline to snatch a 33-31 win over Wanderers the week before.
On Saturday, Merewether scored four tries to two but the Greens paid the price for poor discipline.
Mehaina's late penalty was his fifth for the game.
Unbeaten after 11 rounds, Merewether have now lost two on the bounce.
A late penalty also proved the difference in University's come-from-behind 20-19 victory over Hamilton at Uni No.3.
The Students led 17-14 at half-time. The Hawks hit back to go ahead 19-17.
However, Uni fly-half and former Hawk Tute Grant had the last say, nailing a penalty with five minutes remaining to break Hamilton's heart and put a major dint in their finals hopes.
In the other game, Wanderers scored five second-half tries to storm past Southern Beaches 53-24 at Ernie Calland Oval.
