Stourbridge Saxons coach Thinus Delport is challenging his players to perform for a full 80 minutes ahead of Saturday’s crucial  trip to Birmingham and Solihull Bees.

The former Springbok full-back was pleased with the efforts of his Saxons players during the middle part of last week’s defeat at the hands of table-topping Fylde in National One.

A slow start did not help Stourbridge’s cause, however, and a string of injuries blighted a final quarter during which Fylde scored 26 unanswered points.

Delport said: “The boys did really well in the middle 40 minutes,. But it was terribly frustrating to start so slowly, give away two defendable tries, then throw the ball away a few times in the closing stages.

“There has definitely been an improvement in the things we have identified and worked on. We could see that for half the game, now we need to keep on improving and focus for the whole 80.

“We are under pressure. We have not had the best of starts, as the results show, which puts a bit of doubt in the mind and creates a slight lack of confidence.

“We are definitely not lacking in effort; the guys are working hard and taking responsibility. They just need to be a bit smarter in applying that effort.

“We were affected by injuries – towards the end we had back-rower Jim Jenner in the centre – and this really disrupted the combinations we have worked on.

“But decision-making is crucial, it changes the shape of the game and, against Fylde, there were a couple of wrong options taken.

“We must learn from these mistakes, be more clinical, and make the situations count when we can apply pressure.

“The guys need to be very careful to stay within the structure of the team – when they try to go off and do things on their own, they get exposed.”

The Saxons’ squad contains no fewer than four players who were with Bees last season and Delport sees this weekend’s return to Damson Parkway as a good challenge for them.

He said: “Sam Robinson, Ben Barkley, Tomasi Tonumi and Mark Woodrow must focus on Stourbridge now – keep our game plan and patterns in mind, and not try and go off on their own to prove a point.

“Although it does help to have players with some knowledge of the opposition’s coaching structure and patterns of play, we need to focus on what we do.

“We don’t have enough time to worry too much about the opposition.”