When the Isuzu Southern Kings get their noses in front they must learn to be more ruthless and put their opposition under the pump, Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
The Kings have lost their past two Guinness PRO14 games against the Scarlets and Leinster by narrow margins and Davids wants his team to show more killer instinct.
There was heartbreak when they conceded two late tries to slip to a narrow 41-34 loss against the Scarlets in October.
After 54 minutes, when former Springbok wing Bjorn Basson latched onto a pinpoint kick ahead by centre Berton Klaasen to score, the Kings had a 32-22 lead.
But the Kings could not hold onto their advantage and the Scarlets stole the match in the final seven minutes when they scored two late tries.
The opposite applied when the Kings scored two tries at the death in their next game to put themselves within touching distance of PRO14 champions Leinster.
“If we can start well and build up a score, we must learn to keep opposition under the pump and keep them back,” Davids said.
“At the end of the day that will help us. We always finish well and we were a bit unlucky against Scarlets. We fought back this week against Leinster, but left it a bit too late.
“Now the main thing is we must ensure we do not put ourselves in those positions too much,” he said.
“We did so much good stuff at the start against Leinster and we adapted well to the windy conditions, and especially in the lineouts.
“We knew we would have a challenge in the scrums against Leinster and we were under tremendous pressure and the yellow cards we got as a result of that did not help us.
“That also resulted in us conceding three soft tries at the end of the first half which gave them an advantage. It is always difficult to come back from that and play catch-up rugby.
“At the end of the day it is vital in this competition that your tight phases do not go backwards and that you do not concede penalties.
“That gives the opposition easy ball possession and they will then use the territorial advantage to their gain.
“There is bit of maturity now to the way the guys respond to disappointments and never back down and still fight back,” Davids said.
The Kings have a break this week before they regroup on Monday to start preparing for their next match, against Irish side Connacht at the Madibaz Stadium in Port Elizabeth, on November 25.