Canberra Vikings skipper Robbie Coleman has called on his teammates to prove they're worthy of a National Rugby Championship finals berth after being "embarrassed" in Sydney on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Vikings were blown away by the Sydney Rays 58-14 at Pittwater Park in a result that puts their NRC title hopes on the precipice of disaster.
The Vikings failed to fire as former ACT Brumby Michael Wells opened the scoring and started an avalanche of tries in a penultimate-round whitewash.
The Canberra side must now beat the Perth Spirit in the last game of the season next weekend to be any chance of making the play-offs.
Coleman blasted the Vikings' attitude and said they needed to restore pride in their clash against the Spirit.
"I'm not sure if we left our attitude in Canberra or what happened, but the Rays came out and we couldn't keep up with them," Coleman said.
"We're all very disappointed in ourselves, there aren't a lot of happy faces in the change rooms. But that's a good sign.
"We've got to win next week and we've been disappointed with how we've played at home all year. So we want to make amends for that.
"I said to the team on the field that we're embarrassed, but we've got to own that. We've got to let that hurt and use that as motivation to make sure it never happens again."
The Spirit can knock the Vikings out of the top four if they win their match against Brisbane City on Sunday.
The Vikings' finals fate will come down to the last game of the regular season regardless of the Spirit's result against Brisbane.
Coach Wayne Southwell turned to an injection of Canberra club rugby talent in a bid to spark enthusiasm and edge the Vikings closer to the title.
But the Rays were ruthless, running with a strong wind in the first half, and opened up a 46-8 half-time lead as the Vikings limped helplessly through the first 40 minutes.
Jordan Smiler and Connal McInerney were the only Vikings to score tries while Josh Turner, Damien Fitzpatrick and Harry Jones all scored doubles.
The heavy defeat leaves the Vikings licking their wounds, but they will likely welcome back influential leaders Sam Carter and Jarrad Butler next weekend.
The Vikings have lost two of their three games at home this season.
"The frustrating thing is that what's letting us down is dropped balls or missed tackles," Coleman said.
"It's individual errors, we're not clicking as a team. We've got the players and you can see from the tries that we do score that we've got the talent.
"But it's the uncharacteristic errors from players that are happening too often ... we've got to wake up to ourselves and put it in for 80 minutes.
"We can't afford to be playing catch-up footy, we want to fire at home and give our supporters something to be proud of."
AT A GLANCE
SYDNEY RAYS 58 (Josh Turner 2, Damien Fitzpatrick 2, Harry Jones 2, Michael Wells, Angus Sinclair tries, Matt Lucas 5 conversions) bt CANBERRA VIKINGS 14 (Jordan Smiler, Connal McInerney tries; Nick Jooste conversion) at Pittwater Park on Saturday.
