Coach Paul John admitted Cardiff Blues had crucially lost the battle of the contact area as they suffered a 16-6 defeat to Scarlets in a Welsh Guinness PRO12 derby at Parc y Scarlets.
Home hooker Ken Owens struck the decisive blow with a try in the final quarter to settle the encounter after fly halves Rhys Patchell and Rhys Priestland had traded kicks.
Blues also had to deal with the disruption of losing key trio Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Rees and Jarrad Hoeata to injury in the first half.
However, Attack Coach John was pulling no punches in his assessment and pinpointed the contact area as crucial.
He said: “It was a frustrating game for us and the contact area was an area of concern because we gave away so many penalties.
“James Davies was allowed to get his hands on the ball and he is very good at that. We didn’t deal with that threat and as a result struggled.
“We were still in that game until the last ten minutes and we probably had opportunities we should have taken.
“You think about the cross field kick in the second half that if we nailed down we probably would have scored.
“Rhys (Patchell) missed that penalty for goal and we also had to cope with the disruption of losing Gareth (Anscombe) early. We had to deal with it, but we are disappointed with result.
“There was a lot of disruption to us, but the most telling stat was how effective they were at the defensive contact area.”
Blues now finish the season with a home clash at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday and John admitted planning for the future was now crucial for the region.
“We should be doing better, without a shadow of a doubt. With the size of the region, we are underachieving – we all know that,” he said.
“All we can do it roll our sleeves up and work hard. Stability is the biggest factor and whoever comes in must have the opportunity for three years to build something.
“We have good players, players with great attitudes. We must be doing better and we will get better.”