Western Force captain Jeremy Williams and coach Simon Cron are under no illusion that discipline helped bring the side down in the 34-10 loss to the Waratahs in their SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific Round 4 clash at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
But Williams said the side would reset and be ready to "climb the mountain" against the Crusaders at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday (kick-off 11.35am WST and live on Stan Sport).
"Discipline was the key," Williams told reporters after the game.
"Constant penalties...you just can't do that against a quality team and then you are constantly defending your line.
"We leaked points, unforced errors as well, giving possession back to them.
"Some of those are in our control, some of them discipline.
"After every game you reset, whether it's a win or you lose, you want to reset and attack that week.
"We'll stick to what we usually do, reset at the start of the week and build our way up and climb the mountain next Saturday."
Cron, who described the match as "probably our worst game" thought the side was well placed at the break, despite being 15-5 down.
"I thought coming out at half-time we'd be OK but discipline was a key," he said.
"The first half we had some opportunities we didn't take. We've got opportunities, we've just got to make sure we take them.
"In the first half, apart from obviously throwing that intercept (for Max Jorgensen's second try), we were in control in key moments. We gave away too many penalties.
"Ball security, looking after the ball, we were a little bit loose with that and it gave them so much possession.
"From our point of view this was probably our worst game. We would like to be a lot better than that.
"The big disappointment was the areas we can control and one of those obviously being those penalties.
"It's really hard to build momentum when we keep giving away penalties. One of the things we've got to do now is consolidate, get back on the field."
The Force scrum was a target for the Waratahs and is expected to be another pressure point against the Crusaders.
"It is definitely an area of our game that we have got to keep working on quite a lot at the moment," Cron said.
"We're putting a lot of pressure on Throbba (Tom Robertson). He's done a lot of minutes.
"We've got to bring through those other guys the best we can at training and then put them into the pressure cooker.
"They can only shadow box so long."
The Force squad will fly to Christchurch on Sunday, spending the week on the road prior to Saturday’s clash with the Crusaders, which is set to be Tom Roberton’s 100th Super Rugby game.
