Lack of tenacity in the tackle was to blame says Goode

Despite Freddie Cracknell’s first half hat-trick of tries, Bulls lost 35-28 against Salisbury in Saturday’s Wadworth 6X South West One East fixture.

The visitors produced a strong second half performance to overturn a 28-18 deficit at the DCS Stadium.

Goode said: “I think our fitness showed, there were too many missed tackles in the second half. It was a tale of two halves but we need to learn how to manage a game and finish it.

“Salisbury are a very good side, they got relegated last year from National League Three.

“We’ll take some very good points out of the game, I think we played some really good rugby but we also did some things that were really poor. It’s a bitter pill to swallow but Salisbury played very good rugby and played it for the whole 80 minutes.”

The yellow card for Jimmy Manley came at a crucial point in the second half when Bulls were being put under pressure by Salisbury. Goode admitted that was the turning point and played a big part in the final outcome.

He added: “It takes its toll, obviously with 14 men its hard but we shouldn’t have got into that position. We should have kept the pressure up and kept the ball in there half.

“We gave it away cheaply which led to the break and then the yellow card. We’ll be focusing on Tuesday about securing the ball and managing these situations.”