Cornish Pirates head coach Ian Davies revealed that frustrations were running high in the camp after last Saturday's 9-9 draw at Billesley Common against Moseley.
Skipper Laurie McGlone took charge of the initial team debrief after the Pirates had let a 9-0 lead slip, conceding three penalties in eight second-half minutes scored by Ollie Thomas, and was clearly far from satisfied with the Championship display.
McGlone said afterwards: "We have left a lot of points and I was very disappointed with the performance.
"We are struggling, to be honest. We are struggling to put a decent performance on the park."
Davies said: "I didn't speak to the players at the end. Laurie [McGlone] said to myself and Harvey [Biljon] that he would deal with it and it wouldn't be sugar-coated, and why should it be?
"We pride ourselves on being a top half of the table team and to do that we need to beat sides like Moseley."
Davies echoed his captain's sentiments regarding the amount of control the Pirates demonstrated, and shared his frustrations at the lack of a killer touch.
"There's no need to panic because we were never going to lose this game, but what I would have wanted it to be was a game we were going to win. That's what we have to learn," he explained.
Before the Championship takes a short mid-November break, the Pirates have a daunting task ahead of them as Rotherham Titans visit Mennaye Field on Sunday.
The Titans have a poor record in Cornwall, but they responded to the departure of head coach Andre Bester last week by comfortably dispatching South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Knights last Saturday.
Davies knows that all the pressure is again on his team as they strive this week to respond to the disappointment at Billesley Common.
He said: "We have got Rotherham coming next week and they have had some upheaval with Andre Bester leaving, but they had a really good win against Doncaster this weekend and will pose a very physical challenge.
"We know that, we have to match that and have to do something extra. We are not going to beat them brawn on brawn and we have to be smarter. We weren't up at Moseley and that was what was so disappointing."
Even so, it is not all doom and gloom in the Pirates camp as they aim to continue a run which has left them unbeaten since early October.
"The positives are that we are now unbeaten in four games and didn't pick up any real injuries at the weekend," explained Davies.
"Jack Nowell turned his ankle a little bit and Sam Hill came off because he had a time restriction from Exeter. Now we need to go into the Rotherham game and put on a show before we get a week off."
