'Tahs need 'significant sacrifice'

Waratahs coach Michael Foley believes that it will take "significant sacrifice" for his team to become competitive in Super Rugby.

The Sydney side finished a highly disappointing season with a dejecting loss to old rivals the Reds in Brisbane and Foley was left lamenting his side's sloppy execution.

He commented: "The scoreboard tellsthe tale of our poor execution in our own 22.

"Tonight, three tries to the Reds came from our poor execution from set piece, then there was a fourth try where we allowed Will (Genia) to sneak down that blindside."

Despite trailing by just one point at the break, courtesy ofa 28th minute try from Drew Mitchell, a Bernard Foley penalty and an Adam Ashley-Cooper drop goal, three Reds tries in the space of 20 second-half minutes secured victory and ended the Waratahs' hopes of ending the season with a much-needed confidence boost.

The loss means the Waratahs finish the season with a disappointing eight straight losses but Foley praised the side for fighting until the end.  

“One of the areas I was most pleased about was, in aseason like this when you don't win the games that you would want to win, that the team doesn't fracture and that it keeps fighting.

"Every team has a life beyond a game and beyond a season.  It's very important for this team to learn from this and I think the quality of the men in this team will allow it to," he said.

His sentiments were echoed by captain Benn Robinson.

"It’s a good sign that, where this team is at the moment, how tight it is and how strong it is," he said.

Despite losing a number of those games in very tight circumstances, Foley warned against underestimating the work that needed to be done.  

"No-one should think that because the margins in a number of our games have been very fine, that just a little bit more will be enough.

"The distance between where we are and where we need to go will require significant sacrifice and we all need to embrace that. We need to work particularly hard to make something out of what has happened this year," he added.