After conceding a try on full time in a round one loss to Riverview last weekend, Shore coach Angus Sinclair is hoping his side can learn quickly and bounce back against Kings at Northbridge on Saturday. 

Shore led for most of the afternoon in their opening match of the 2024 GPS season, but were forced to watch on as Iggies No.9 Angus Grover kicked a match winning conversion from close to the sideline with the final play of the day. 

“It was a tough, tough game and it’s never nice to lose in that fashion, watching a kick go over after the bell,” Sinclair told Rugby News. 

“It makes it worse because we had it within our control to close out that game and we just weren’t able to. 

“Credit to Riverview though, they held their composure at the end, managed to cross the line when they needed to and Angus Grover held his nerve from out wide to win it.

“We’ll learn from it. I would have loved if we could have learnt those lessons in a trial, but that’s that way it goes sometimes.”

After leading 8-5 at the break, Shore scored again from a maul in the 50th minute to claim a 15-10 lead on a wet and muddy afternoon at Riverview. 

But Sinclair said his side struggled with their execution and game management in key moments across the final 15 minutes. 

“Looking at the results from the first round, it looks like there are going to be a lot of close games this season and I’m sure we’re going to be in that situation again. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and end up on the other side of the result next time. 

“We only missed 11 tackles all game but we conceded three tries. One of those tries came from us trying to play too much footy in our own half and in those sort of conditions, you just can’t afford to do that. 

“Moving forward, we’ll look to move the play to better parts of the field and and to be honest, I thought we did that quite well for most of the game, we just struggled to do it in a few key moments.”

Sinclair said it was important that his side learnt to compete and win in all conditions but admitted a dry track at Northbridge on Saturday could benefit his side against a young Kings outfit who were impressive in a 12-all draw against Scots in round one. 

“Kings have been really impressive over the last few weeks. They’ve had two draws against two of the competition favourites. 

“They are a completely different side to last year, but they’re still really well coached and they’ve got a lot of good young players. 

“We just need to stick to our game plan and execute, particularly towards the end of the game. 

“Sticking to the process, rather than worrying about the outcome. It’s a buzz phrase at the moment and a bit of a cliche but it’s true and it really does dial down to that for us at the moment.”

In the opening round’s other match, Joeys scored four tries in a 24-12 win over Newington. 

On Saturday, Joeys host Scots and Newington travel to play Riverview in round two. 

“I’d watched quite a bit of Joeys footage from the trials so I wasn’t surprised to see them jump out of the blocks and play as well as they did last week,” Sinclair said. 

“Then obviously the Scots and Kings game was super tight with both sides playing well.

“All it takes in this competition is to be five percent off or to make one or two mistakes and that can cost you a game. I really do think anyone can beat anyone this year.”