FURIOUS Dudley Kingswinford RFC joint head coach Neil Shillingford has accused his players of lacking passion after they lost their unbeaten home record.

The Heathbrook side were beaten 30-25 by Whitchurch on Saturday to slip to sixth in West Midlands One.

Despite a second half fightback, DK were unable to recover from a poor first half which saw them trail 20-10 at the break, with Shillingford describing it as “one of the worst halves of rugby” seen at the ground in years.

He said: “We dug ourselves into a big hole with a very poor first half performance.

“There were some outstanding performances, particularly from the front row and it’s frustrating when you see some players working their socks off while others are going through the motions.

“I’m just sorry we have not got the squad in terms of numbers to make more changes.

“I don’t know if some of the players realise that and don’t really put the performance in.

“Some of the guys seem to lack the passion for battle.

“When the going gets tough, we don’t get going. I’m very angry and frustrated.”

To make matters worse, DK were hit by further injury concerns as Gareth Bown hobbled off a half-time.

Shillingford said his injury would be assessed at training.

He added: “Whitchurch were a good side, better than last year.

“But that is no excuse for the way some of our players performed.”

DK will look to get back on track this Saturday when they host Leamington (2.15pm), a side ranked one spot below them in the table.

Shillingford added: “They had a good start to the season but their early victories were against some of the lesser sides.

“But ultimately its all about us.

“If we play in the first half like we did last week they will beat us.

“We need to front up a bit, some of the players have got to bring something to the party.

“You can coach the technical side of things but you can’t coach commitment.”