“IF anyone wants to point any fingers, aim them at me.”
So said Mark Applegarth after York Knights were beaten 24-22 by Huddersfield Giants on Saturday afternoon.
York had led via David Nofoaluma’s tenth-minute try, but went on to concede 24 unanswered points, a late rally inside the closing stages proving futile as the Giants snapped their twelve-match winless run and earned a first victory under Jim Lenihan.
It was an at times sluggish performance from the Knights, lacking much of the effort that the club prides itself on.
And Applegarth had no complaints with the final result.
“We were a long way off,” admitted the head coach, who cut a frustrated figure at his post-match press conference.
“Huddersfield were due to get one over the line, and unfortunately for us, we’ve given them that opportunity.
“I thought we started brightly enough and created plenty of opportunities. When we went 6-0 up, I thought we’d settle in.
“We made that break and passed it to the opposition and then we just got very sloppy. Inviting a team with that strike, eventually it’s going to take its toll.
“Going in at half time, we were on the ropes at 6-6. We were pretty honest and said that we had to go back to what was working for us in those first ten minutes.
“But we’re very inconsistent at the moment. It feels like we make three steps forward and then a couple back.
“We’ve got to chase that consistency in our performance first and foremost.
“Huddersfield were deserving of the victory, but it’s frustrating when you’re coaching and we’re making some simple errors – whether that’s one-on-one misses, defensive misses, or not controlling rucks how we know we can.
“It’s nothing rocket science that we’ve got to fix up, but we have got to fix it up if we want to compete regularly at this level.”
It was a performance that seemed out of character for York, not least when Tui Lolohea beat an off-colour Toa Mata’afa to score a decisive try from his own punt forward.
“I fully agree (it seemed out of character),” said Applegarth.
“That’s on me, isn’t it? I’m not singling out any one player because that’s not what we’re about, it’s on me. If anyone wants to point any fingers, aim them at me.
“Some of our one-on-one defence, some of our urgency and our push and anticipation as a team collectively, definitely was not the standard we want to be known for.”
Huddersfield appeared the hungrier of the sides to earn the two competition points, with the head coach conceding: “I thought they were desperate to get that win.
“I thought we looked very erratic, and unusually for us, a little bit low on those effort areas that we pride ourselves on.
“That was disappointing for me as a coach.
“But we’ll win together and we’ll lose together, that’s on me. I’ve got to own all that and make sure that we get the consistency in our performance and that’s what I’ll make sure we do.”